The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1211 ET – U.S. housing supply continued to grow this January, Realtor.com says, but the recovery lost momentum as inventory moved further away from pre-pandemic norms. These trends signal renewed supply constraints even as prices remained largely flat nationwide. Active listings increased 10% year-over-year. extending a streak of inventory gains to 27 consecutive months. However, growth has slowed for nine straight months as seasonal trends and market momentum reverse much of the progress made in 2025. As a result, Realtor.com says the national housing supply is now 17.2% below typical 2017-2019 levels, the widest gap since last spring, with 30 of the 50 largest U.S. metros regressing relative to pre-pandemic inventory levels since May. “After meaningful inventory gains last year, the recovery has lost steam,” says Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, in the company’s monthly housing report. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1143 ET – The typical home that went under contract in Austin in December spent 106 days on the market, Redfin says. That’s up from 91 days a year earlier. Nationwide, the typical home that went under contract in December did so in 60 days, up from 54 days a year earlier. Austin was the slowest market among the 50 most populous metropolitan areas, followed by San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale. Austin’s slowdown marks a sharp reversal from recent years, when it often held the title of “hottest” housing market, Redfin says. Austin’s median home sale price dropped 4.2% year over year in December—the third largest decline among the top 50 metros. Many sellers are taking losses, according to Redfin. Housing markets across Texas and Florida have also slowed in recent years due to a homebuilding boom. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

0856 ET – BNP Paribas’s revenue trends and efficiency will be key factors in determining whether the French bank can deliver on its higher earnings ambitions, J.P. Morgan’s Delphine Lee says in a research note. The lender reported a better-than-expected net profit for the fourth quarter and raised its 2028 profitability target, the analyst says. Nevertheless, this is likely to result in only minor upgrades to consensus estimates at this stage, she adds. Shares in BNP don’t discount its 2028 profitability target, which suggests the stock could go higher as the bank reassures as the bank reassures on capital and improves profitability over time, according to JPM. Shares rise 1.9% to 92.61 euros. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

Unknown Executive

Let me start the explanation meeting. My name is Hiraoka from Public Relations Department of KDDI. I serve as MC. Today’s meeting, as is disclosed on a timely basis to present preliminary results of the third quarter of the year ending in March 2026 of KDDI. Today’s presentation is being distributed on YouTube and other media in addition to the on-site. And we have put up three related materials on the KDDI website. Please refer to the materials at hand. This is the message for the people in the outside audience.

Today’s attendees are as follows: Hiromichi Matsuda, President, Representative Director, CEO; Senior Managing Executive Officer, CFO, Executive Director, Corporate Sector, Nanae Saishoji; Managing Executive Officer, Director, CSO and CDO, Executive Director, Corporate Strategy Division, Tomohiko Katsuki; Executive Officer, Executive Director, Corporate Management Division, Corporate Sector, Kenji Aketa. These four are in attendance.

President Matsuda, please.

Hiromichi Matsuda
President, CEO, Exe. Director of Corporate & Marketing Comm. Sector and Representative Director

Thank you very much for gathering here today despite your busy schedules. First and foremost, we sincerely apologize for the significant inconvenience and concern caused to our customers, business partners, shareholders, investors and many other stakeholders, including our employees due to the suspected improper transactions at our subsidiary. We recognize this matter as a serious issue that could potentially undermine the trust in the entire KDDI Group. As the top management, I feel a profound sense of responsibility for the occurrence of this matter and

By Jennifer Nash

Consumer sentiment rose for a third straight month in January, reaching its highest level since August. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index inched up 0.9 points (1.6%) to 57.3 this month, performing slightly better than the forecasted 55.0. However, this

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 points for the first time on Friday as stocks rallied in response to a rout in tech shares earlier in the week.

The closely watched index rose above 50,000 for the first time after 2 p.m. during Friday’s trading session, advancing 1,206.95 points, or 2.47%, to close at 50,115.67.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also closed in the green, up 1.97% and 2.18%, respectively.

President Donald Trump celebrated the news in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon.

STELLANTIS TAKES MASSIVE $26B HIT AFTER MOVING AWAY FROM EVS

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 50,000 for the first time in History. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

The president said in a separate post, “The ‘Experts’ said that if I hit 50,000 on the Dow by the end of my Term, I would have done a great job, but I hit 50,000 today, three years ahead of schedule — Remember that for the Midterms, because the Democrats will CRASH the Economy!”

Chip stocks surged on expectations they would benefit from increased spending on artificial intelligence (AI) data centers by Amazon and Google parent company Alphabet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 50,000 points for the first time Friday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shares in Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom all rose by more than 7%. Amazon’s stock fell nearly 7% after announcing it planned to ramp up capital expenditures by more than 50% this year amid the AI race after a similar announcement by Alphabet Wednesday.

Friday’s rallies in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq followed three consecutive days of losses amid worries about AI.

“Market sentiment improved after today’s positive report out of the University of Michigan,” said Jeffrey Roach, LPL Financial chief economist. “Median 1-year inflation expectations hit the lowest since January 2025, providing some comfort for investors eager to see improving inflation metrics.”

Several software companies saw stock declines amid investors’ concerns that competition in the AI space could hurt their margins as well as questions about whether valuations have become excessive amid the AI boom.

SEC CHAIRMAN WARNS OF CHINA-LINKED RAMP-AND-DUMP ACTIVITY

“This trade has been volatile, and there have been selloffs at times, but I think there’s enough evidence that there’s real demand for AI products, real promise with what they can do and a necessity of a lot of spending to get there,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

“So, when there’s this kind of a sell-off, I think there’s a floor where there’s going to be a certain set of investors that steps in and starts buying these names.”

DEI DISCLOSURE PARTICIPATION PLUMMETS AMONG MAJOR COMPANIES AS CORPORATE PULLBACK CONTINUES

Shares in Nvidia and other chipmakers surged amid expectations of continued investment in AI. (Loren Elliott/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by the information technology index’s gain of more than 3.7% and a nearly 2.7% gain by the index for industrials.

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Reuters contributed to this report.