The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

1110 ET - Nearly 40,000 home-sale agreements nationwide were canceled in January, Redfin says. That's equal to 13.7% of homes that went under contract that month, and up from 13.1% a year earlier. Sales are falling through at a higher rate than in the past largely because it's a buyer's market, with hundreds of thousands more U.S. home sellers than buyers. That gives buyers negotiating power, allowing them to back out during the inspection period if they see a home they like better or an inspection issue arises. While housing costs have come down from their peak, they are still near historic highs. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1041 ET - About 49% of U.S. residents struggle to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments, according to Redfin. Americans are more likely to struggle to make housing payments than they were last spring. Last May, 44% of U.S. residents said they struggled to afford their mortgage or rent payment, compared with nearly half today. Affordable housing has become difficult because housing costs are high. The median U.S. home-sale price and average mortgage rates were historically high in November, though they weren't at record highs. Homebuyers need to earn $111,000 per year to afford the typical U.S. home, about $25,000 more than the median household income. About 39% of Americans who struggle to afford housing are eating out less often, making this the most common sacrifice. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1039 ET - The Bank of England expects the U.K. unemployment rate to peak at 5.25% in the second half of 2026, BOE chief economist Huw Pill says during testimony before lawmakers on the Treasury Committee. "We are getting to a point where the labor market is showing signs of stabilization," he says. The latest U.K. labor market data showed the unemployment rate increased to 5.2% in October to December, from 5.1% in September to November. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1019 ET - Does uncertainty about tariffs affect consumers' spending plans? It's a difficult question for economists, because tariff uncertainty usually comes with actual changes in tariff policy, so it's hard to tell whether the uncertainty or the policy changes are causing changes in consumer spending. In a new paper, Cleveland Fed researchers tackled the problem with a cleverly designed survey. They find that higher expected tariff levels increase spending plans, because consumers want to buy before tariffs land. But setting aside tariff levels, a 1% increase in uncertainty about tariffs reduces the likelihood that a household plans to purchase a durable good by 0.23 percentage point. The effect is even stronger for cars and other major purchases, where a 1% increase in tariff uncertainty causes a 1 percentage point fall in purchasing plans. (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

1015 ET - Yields on U.K. government bonds, or gilts, and sterling edge higher as Bank of England policymakers testify before lawmakers. Policymakers say they need more evidence of declining underlying inflation before resuming interest-rate cuts. In a prepared report,Governor Andrew Bailey says there is scope for further rate cuts but this "does not mean that I expect to cut Bank Rate at any particular meeting." With every rate cut delivered, how much further to go becomes a closer call, he says. U.K. 10-year gilts trade marginally higher on the day at 4.314%, versus 4.305% before the testimony, Tradeweb data show. Sterling trades at $1.3495 versus $1.3488 beforehand. The euro falls to 0.8719 pounds, from 0.8728 beforehand. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

1009 ET - Stablecoin volumes are no longer tracking crypto asset prices and are instead becoming a critical part of business-to-business financial infrastructure, Stripe says in its annual shareholder letter. A series of new tech capabilities are allowing stablecoins to be used widely and easily and stablecoin payment volume doubled in 2025 even as Bitcoin prices fell. But today's blockchains cannot support the growing number of stablecoin transactions, especially as agentic commerce takes hold. "Agents will most likely soon be responsible for most internet transactions, and we will likely need blockchains that support more than one million or even one billion transactions per second," Stripe says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1003 ET - Markets lower their expectations of the Bank of England cutting interest rates in March as BOE monetary policy committee members-- Governor Andrew Bailey, Megan Greene, Professor Alan Taylor and Huw Pill--present statements before the Treasury Committee in parliament. The members say that headline inflation is decelerating but they need more evidence of declining underlying inflation before resuming interest-rate cuts. Concerns about stubborn wage inflation could potentially hinder the BOE from cutting rates in the coming months. Markets price a 71% possibility of a BOE rate cut in March, down from 75% chance priced in before the testimony began, LSEG data show. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0926 ET - Stablecoin market capitalization looks set to rise in coming years, increasing demand for Treasury bills, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick says in a note. Growth in stablecoin market cap has stalled in recent months as digital assets have weakened and as the buildout of new stablecoins take time to emerge after last year's passage of the U.S. Genius Act which regulates the cryptocurrency, he says. However, this looks driven by macroeconomic factors rather than structural issues and stablecoin market cap could reach $2 trillion by end-2028 from $304 billion today, he says. "We project that this will result in $800 billion to $1 trillion of fresh demand for T-bills (for use as reserves) from stablecoin issuers over that period." (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

0918 ET - Concerns about AI-disruptions are spreading across asset classes, causing selloffs in various software-linked investments, Nuveen's Laura Cooper says in a note. "The transition started with digital businesses, yet the software selloff is spilling across asset classes - from heavy software exposure in private credit to pockets of public markets as AI disruption risks rise," she says.Investors are now focused on avoiding AI losers, rather than buying AI winners as the AI-disruption risks rise, Cooper says. The downward price movement presents opportunities to buy companies "with durable models and pricing power" and sell companies at risk of disruption. "Service-oriented applications, and creative apps with low customization needs are particularly vulnerable," she says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0857 ET - Treasury yields rise ahead of U.S. housing and consumer confidence indicators. President Trump's new 10% global tariffs took effect at midnight. Chicago Fed's Goolsbee says the central bank should focus on inflation, adding to expectations of a prolonged hold on interest rates. Markets don't price a cut until July, according to CME. The December 20-city S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price index, due at 9 a.m. ET, is expected to be little changed from November, at 1.3%, in a WSJ survey. February Conference Board consumer confidence, at 10 a.m., is forecast at 86.8, up from January's 84.5. The 10-year yield is at 4.039% and the two-year at 3.467%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

0840 ET - The Hungarian forint is little moved, staying weaker against the euro after Hungary's central bank cut its base rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% as broadly expected. The move comes after data showed inflation fell to 2.1% in January, the lower end of the central bank's 2-4% target range. The recent softness in price pressures suggests inflation will stay lower than previously thought, Capital Economics economist Nicholas Farr says in a note. It "now seems more likely to us that the base rate will be lowered to 5.50% by the end of this year, as opposed to 6.00% as we previously thought." The euro rises 0.5% to 378.86 forints, little changed from levels before the decision. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

0739 ET - Expect the Bank of Canada to remain on hold until the outcome of USMCA negotiations becomes clearer, then it will begin to raise interest rates, Bank of Nova Scotia says in its quarterly report to shareholders. The bank currently assumes the North America free trade pact will be renewed with modest adjustments, though it concedes uncertainty around this and other geopolitical and financial risk largely tied to U.S. policies pose a significant risk to its outlook. As it stands, it anticipates inflationary pressures will keep core inflation in the upper half of the central bank's 1%-3% target range. It forecasts the policy interest rate will reach 3% by early 2027. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2026 11:10 ET (16:10 GMT)

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