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

1941 ET - Japanese stocks may rise following a recovery in U.S. technology stocks overnight. Nikkei futures are up 1.3% at 67150 on the SGX. The dollar is at 163.20 yen, up from Y162.52 as of Tuesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on Middle East developments as fighting between the U.S. and Iran has intensified in recent days. Any comments from Japanese government officials on the yen's recent depreciation are also being closely watched. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 3.3% to 66232.19 on Tuesday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)

1931 ET - Despite surging fuel costs, rising interest rates and elevated inflation rates, Australian business insolvencies declined 3.9% in the year to June 30, says business data monitoring firm Creditorwatch. The fall was supported by income-tax cuts in 2024 and interest-rate reductions in 2025, giving support to high-risk sectors such as construction and hospitality, it says. Still, trade-payment defaults and tax debts are rising again, signaling increasing pressures, it adds. Even a single trade-payment default significantly increases insolvency risk to more than 10 times the national average over the following 12 months, it says. (james.glynn@wsj.com; @JamesGlynnWSJ)

1851 ET [Dow Jones]--The U.S. dollar edged higher through U.S. and European trading as the U.S. and Iran exchanged strikes for a 10th consecutive day, says Samara Hammoud, currency strategist at CBA. CBA expects the strikes in the Middle East to continue for the next two months, bringing with it a renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz and pushing Brent oil prices toward US$100 per barrel. A continuation of the Middle East conflict should support the USD because of its safe‑haven status and typically positive correlation with oil prices, Hammoud adds. (james.glynn@wsj.com; X @JamesGlynnWSJ)

1752 ET - Moody's Ratings said it expects Argentina will see GDP growth around 3.4% in 2026 and 3.5% in 2027. The agency raised its ratings on Argentina's long-term local and foreign-currency issuer ratings to B3 from Caa1 and changed the outlook to positive from stable. World Bank data show Argentina experienced negative GDP growth in 2023 and 2024, before rebounding to 4.4% growth last year. "Fiscal discipline, declining inflation and increasing policy credibility are likely to continue, while large-scale investments in energy and mining are likely to translate into sustained gains in export capacity and foreign exchange earnings," Moody's said. (stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com)

1557 ET - Treasury's fell sending yields higher, concluding a day of light U.S. economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting next week. Brent crude futures added 2% to settle above $90 a barrel. Meanwhile, President Trump imposed an additional 50% tariff on certain goods from Canada-including wine, hockey sticks and cement, the White House announced Monday. The White House says the tariffs were a response to the country's "discriminatory treatment of American products." The 2-year yield rose to 4.261%. The 10 year-yield rose to 4.628%. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

1446 ET - Ongoing trade-related uncertainty is going to keep USDCAD above the 1.40 for the foreseeable future, says TD Securities. The firm says that, so far, President Trump's plan to impose a new 50% tariff has triggered "fairly muted" market reaction. The reason, TD says, is the hefty tariff would apply to a small share of total US-Canada trade, thereby minimizing the duty's impact. USDCAD is up 0.26%, while Canada yields are down slightly. TD says the muted response likely reflects fatigue among traders about the trade acrimony between Ottawa and Washington. Traders may also be leaning on remarks last week from Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem, who suggests firms are adjusting to a new U.S.-Canada trade reality, the firm says. (paul.vieira@wsj.com, @paulvieira)

1357 ET - The scope of the proposed new U.S. 50% tariff on certain Canadian goods does not meet the threshold for Bank of Canada officials to consider rate cuts, say the economics team at National Bank of Canada. The 50% levy, which is set to be imposed as soon as Aug. 19, sounds hefty but covers roughly 5% of U.S. imports from Canada, NBC says. Yet, the economists say the new 50% tariff could have economic repercussions. It gives the BOC "more reason to remain patient and refrain from near-term rate hikes despite above-target inflation," NBC says. The firm adds that this new layer of uncertainty is likely to dent business confidence, which had been improving. (Paul.Vieira@wsj.com, @paulvieira)

1334 ET - As demand for homebuilding softened midway through 2Q, D.R. Horton says it prioritized gross margin instead of finding ways to push unit volume, management says on a call with analysts. As such, the company trimmed its full-year home delivery forecast to protect profitability. Doing so helped get home sales gross margin to 20.7% for the quarter, the high end of the company's guidance, as stick-and-brick costs came down 5%. While the company still has significant long-term growth ambitions, it is choosing to hold margin steady for now, management says. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1319 ET - It's not enough to consider a software company's "moat"--their current competitive positioning and risk of displacement--when considering which companies will emerge as winners and losers from the adoption of artificial-intelligence, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. Investors should also consider the "journey": how well a company can adapt to AI processes and models as software continues to evolve. The companies that clearly check both boxes are Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Shopify, Cloudflare, ServiceNow, Datadog, and Snowflake, the analysts write. Stocks that appear more challenged include Adobe and Workday, they add. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1243 ET - New York state's housing market saw prices hit a record high in June, with the median sales price hitting $475,000, the New York State Association of Realtors said. The increase, from $440,000 in June of last year, comes amid an increase in inventory, which has seen 16 straight months of year-over-year inventory growth, according to the Association. Closing sales saw a rise of 0.8% from June of last year, while pending sales rose 8.1%. (stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com)

1224 ET - Starting in November, food-delivery startup Wonder plans to offer tools for people to build their own fast-casual restaurants based on an AI prompt, CEO Marc Lore says during an appearance on CNBC. "Think Shopify on the front end, but we do the entire back end as well," he says, noting Wonder will source the ingredients, cook the food and deliver it. "There's nothing to do other than to basically market your restaurant," he says. Lore says the offering will be just one aspect of Wonder's business, but it could potentially grow into a big piece. "I think millions of people could potentially own their own restaurants in five or 10 years," he says. Last week Wonder announced it raised $650 million in a Series D financing round at a $9 billion pre-money valuation. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1037 ET - President Trump's tariff threat against Canada -- 50% on an array of goods, effective Aug. 19 -- was to be expected at this stage of trade talks between Washington and Ottawa, says Royce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins Capital Markets. "If anything, they're somewhat less aggressive than feared," he says. Talks between the U.S. and Canada to resolve trade tensions have largely stalled, while negotiations between Washington and Mexico are at an advance stage. Mendes says the new 50% tariff fits Trump's style of leveraging access to the US market to force countries to make concessions. He adds Desjardins' outlook had already incorporated a degree of trade uncertainty, and he expects Canadian bond yields, stock prices and CAD to weaken over the next few months due to elevated trade tensions. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2026 19:41 ET (23:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.