The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
1609 ET - Labor-market performance is the central force influencing Canada's mortgage-arrears rate, Bank of Canada research suggests. A new paper from BOC estimates that a 1.0-percentage-point rise in the unemployment rate leads to an increase of 0.10 ppts in the mortgage-arrears rate after one year. In Canada, a mortgage is considered in arrears when payments are overdue by 90 days. The paper notes that mortgage debt accounts for over 70% of all household liabilities. The latest mortgage-arrears data, via the Canadian Bankers Association, suggest 0.26% of Canadian mortgages are in arrears as of the end of 2025, up from a low of 0.14% in the fall of 2022. In that timeframe, Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.8% from 5.1%. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)
1347 ET - Ecolab is better positioned to meet data center builder demands for enhanced cooling systems after its $4.75 billion acquisition of CoolIT Systems from KKR, according to Stifel in a note. CoolIT, a pure-play data center liquid cooling company, complements Ecolab's $1.8 billion acquisition of water treatment company Ovivo's electronics business, the analysts say. Adding CoolIT "should allow ECL to enhance its 'Cooling-as-a-Service' offering by combining CoolIT's engineering technology with ECL's expertise in water, chemistry, fluid management, digital monitoring, and global scale," the analysts add. "The combination of CoolIT (liquid cooling) and Ovivo (water circularity) now allows ECL to offer end-to-end water solutions across both microelectronics and data centers." Ecolab is up 1.7%.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1323 ET - Victory Capital's bid for Janus Henderson relied on financing that was far from certain, says Janus Henderson. The offer would need $1.3 billion of cash from Victory's and Janus Henderson's balance sheets. "That is cash that may not be available in a downturn or as a result of deterioration in Janus Henderson's business due to key client and employee concerns about a transaction with Victory, Janus says. Additionally, the combined company would be drastically levered compared to its peers and there is risk that Victory's one financing bank pulls out, especially given the "likelihood of client and employee attrition resulting from Victory's hostile approach," Janus says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1317 ET - Janus Henderson says that its clients were concerned about potential cuts Victory Capital would make after completing the merger between the two companies. "Achieving Victory's $500 million synergy target will require extensive cuts that will impair the Company's ability to retain investment professionals and maintain Janus Henderson's high standards of client service," Janus says. Investment staff responsible for over one-third of Janus' run-rate revenue threatened to resign if Janus agreed to a sale to Victory. "A firm that cannot retain its talent gives its clients no reason to stay," Janus says. Additionally, clients expressed concerns about Victory's service model, systems, risk management, compliance, back office and client services. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1310 ET - Janus Henderson has rebuffed Victory Capital's acquisition bid, citing risk of the deal's rejection from the company's clients. Key clients and distribution partners representing more than half of revenue run-rate have expressed "significant reservations about maintaining their relationships with Janus Henderson if it were to enter into a transaction with Victory," Janus Henderson says. Clients have said they would need to conduct extensive due diligence over the course of months to determine whether they would consider allowing the sale. Because of the high concentration of revenue run-rate among Janus clients, the disapproval of just a few key clients could've put the deal in doubt, Janus says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1136 ET - The war in the Middle East is likely to result in wider credit spreads for European bank bonds, ING's Maureen Schuller says in a note. Uncertainties surrounding the war and its impact on global economies is expected to raise the risk premium on bank bonds, Schuller says. "The subordinated side of the bank bond spectrum remains most vulnerable to further adjustment, in our view." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
1047 ET - Goeasy's amended financing terms offer only limited relief, according to Graham Ryding of TD Cowen. The analyst says covenant waivers and revised terms on the revolver and securitization facility help the company manage its unusually large 4Q/25 charge-offs, but "funding for LendCare [secured loans] going forward looks compromised given these originations will be excluded now from the revolving credit and securitization facilities." Meanwhile the auto-loan securitization facility has been suspended, forcing receivables back onto Goeasy's balance sheet. Liquidity is at C$983 million, though most isn't accessible until mid-year, while a US$65 million note matures in May. Overall, Ryding says the agreements "provide some short term funding relief, but the outlook for funding LendCare looks compromised." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1021 ET - U.S. home prices were little changed from a month earlier in February, Redfin says, rising 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. That's the slowest growth in seven months. Prices increased 1.9% year-over-year. Price growth is muted because it's the strongest buyer's market in recent history--for those who can afford to buy. There are a record 46% more home sellers than buyers, meaning the buyers who are in the market have negotiating power when it comes to price. Prices are still rising slightly, but this growth pales in comparison to recent years. Mortgage rates have ticked up in the past few weeks following months of declines, but Redfin still expects housing affordability to improve this year as income growth outpaces home price growth. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
1015 ET - Ares Management limited withdrawals from its $22.5 billion Ares Strategic Income Fund after receiving redemption requests totaling 11.6% of the shares outstanding at the end of January, joining the expanding ranks of debt-fund managers that have barred investors from pulling out as much cash as they'd like. Investors will have another opportunity to request withdrawals in the coming quarter, the business development company says in a securities filing Tuesday. Ares, which formed the BDC about four years ago, said the 5% redemption would take $524.5 million from the BDC's coffers, noting that it has about $5 billion in undrawn liquidity. Ares said most of the withdrawal requests came from a small number of family offices and institutional investors. In a separate filing, the BDC said about 22% of its assets are tied to software and services companies. (ted.bunker@wsj.com)
0949 ET - More than 42,000 U.S. home-sale agreements fell through in February, Redfin says. That's equal to 13.7% of homes that went under contract that month, and up from 12.8% a year earlier. Nearly one in every seven homebuying deals are falling through largely because buyers are in the driver's seat. There are hundreds of thousands more home sellers than buyers in the country. A buyer may back out of a contract during the inspection period if they see a home they like better or an issue comes up that they don't want to repair. House hunters are also feeling jittery because of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, Redfin says. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
0916 ET - Artificial-intelligence isn't a significant risk to Spanish banks, Citi analysts write. Around 65% of the Spanish population use physical bank branches, something that AI can't replicate, the analysts say. Moreover, large Spanish banks have piled significant investment into their digital capabilities, with BBVA acquiring around 66% of its customers digitally, they say. Spain's older population--and the concentration of wealth among this demographic--also helps incumbent banks as older people are less likely to use AI tools, the analysts say. AI will also allow efficiency savings for banks, they add. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0750 ET - Nordea shares have had a decent run in the last year, but valuation now looks stretched versus fundamentals, Bank of America Securities analysts write. The net interest income picture is murkier, with management guiding for flat-to-down full-year 2026 net interest income on tighter margins. "We now think Nordea's business is more negatively geared to rates and more reliant on loan growth than previously expected." BofA sees high AI spending risks amid high competition and digitization in the Nordics, while the dividend yield remains below peers' with little scope to raise it. The bank downgrades Nordea to underperform from neutral and lowers its price target on the stock to 171 Swedish kronor from 182 kronor. Shares fall 1.9% to 164 kronor. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 24, 2026 16:50 ET (20:50 GMT)
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