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

1619 ET - AI hiring is expanding beyond traditional technical roles, analysts at LinkedIn's Economic Graph Research Institute say in a research note. The need for people that build AI systems is giving way to hiring for individuals that can deploy, manage and apply those systems, the analysts say. "This suggests AI is becoming a bigger part of everyday work, not just a specialized function," they say. There are also signs of growth in AI leadership roles, albeit unevenly, the analysts say. The share of postings for AI Manager and VP of AI roles has increased in recent years, they say. But the pattern isn't holding for every role -- Head of AI roles have remained stable and Director of AI roles have declined in share, the analysts say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1616 ET - The number of AI job postings has roughly doubled in recent years, and those postings carry higher salaries than non-AI roles, though executive-level salaries in the field are retreating, according to analysts at LinkedIn's Economic Graph Research Institute. AI jobs are among the fastest-growing and highest-paying opportunities in the job market right now, with salaries typically around $177,000, compared with $80,000 for non-AI roles, the analysts say. The fastest pay growth has been concentrated in a few roles, including technical staff and forward deployed engineer positions, they say. In contrast, executive positions, such as "Head of AI" or AI Engineer, have remained flat since 2024, and VP of AI roles have seen listed pay decline from highs above $300,000, the analysts say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1543 ET - Treasury yields lose momentum and fall ahead of Fed minutes tomorrow. Bonds are likely to remain under pressure, though, as they face competition from other assets, including stocks, which are expected to keep rising fast, TCW's Jamie Patton says. An auction of six-week Treasury bills shows steady demand in the short end, ahead of a 20-year bond auction tomorrow. Tension in the Middle East keeps oil prices above $80 a barrel. The 30-year yield sheds 0.025 percentage point to 5.284%. The 10-year drops 0.019 p.p. to 4.706% and the two-year slips 0.008 p.p. to 4.174%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

1248 ET - A study from The Conference Board shows that federal deficits can affect students through interest rates. The study reflects a high school student who takes out a $45,000 federal loan to begin college in 2028 and another $30,000 loan for graduate school in 2032. The analysts highlight a range of scenarios, from a "good" case to a more extreme one-week government default scenario. Reducing deficits under the good-case scenario leads to a 2.7% decrease in student loan payments by roughly $14,000. Conversely, a one-week government default scenario causes an 8.7%--or about a $44,000--increase in student loan payments compared to the baseline scenario. In 1Q, Americans owed $1.87 trillion in Federal and private student loan debt, a 3.3% increase from 2025. "As the deficit interacts with interest rates for government bonds, all types of loans will eventually be affected," the analysts say. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

1229 ET - As global government bonds yields soar to multiyear highs, a new report from The Conference Board highlights scenarios where high levels of U.S. debt impact the lives of everyday Americans. Under its higher-deficit scenario, student loan costs increase by 3.2%, housing costs between 1.9% and 3.6%, and small business loan payments by 7%, compared with the baseline. In the report, the baseline scenario is when the Federal government runs an annual deficit between 6-7% of GDP, following CBO projections. In a hypothetical scenario involving a week-long default of the U.S. Federal government debt in 2029--the year the current debt ceiling is projected to be reached--mortgage rates would exhibit extreme volatility in the years after, before settling at 6.4% in 2036. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

1141 ET - Canadian homebuilding activity plummeted in July to the lowest number of starts in over a year, yet homebuying activity in the country appears to be recovery from the weak start to 2026, says Desjardins' Kari Norman. The economist notes the drop in starts was entirely within the ever-volatile multi-unit segment, while single-family construction was about the same as a month earlier. The six-month trend for starts was essentially flat but still the lowest in 15 months and about half the roughly 500,000 housing starts needed annually to restore prepandemic levels of affordability, Norman says. Still, existing home sales in July rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% on-month and the average national sale price and benchmark price were little changed. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

1127 ET - Bitcoin turns positive, with the cryptocurrency now trading up 0.5% to $64,678. A contraction in spot demand for bitcoin has been a driving factor behind the tumble in prices seen since last year, but that contraction may soon end, says analysts with CryptoQuant in a note. "The 30-day apparent spot demand has recovered from -206K BTC on July 23 to roughly -5K today - on the cusp of turning positive for the first time since February 26, 2026," says the firm in a note. Historically, bitcoin prices have climbed when changes like this occur, the firm says. "When spot apparent demand crosses from negative to positive, bitcoin has historically risen," says CryptoQuant, with the token up 18% over the following 60 days after the switch. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1059 ET - The recovery in tourism to the Gulf from outside the region remains slow and could stay weak for some time, Capital Economics says. Concerns about renewed conflict and flight cancellations risk continuing to weigh on travel by non-GCC visitors, says William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. Spending in Bahrain on cards issued outside the Gulf is down around 40% from a year ago, while spending on GCC-issued cards has largely recovered, he says. If the weakness persists, tourists could increasingly shift to destinations including the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, with Morocco and Thailand also potential beneficiaries, Jackson says. (farhan.rafid@wsj.com)

1055 ET - Cash buyers are beginning to lose some of the outsized influence they gained during the pandemic housing boom, according to Realtor.com. Cash purchases accounted for 31.4% of home sales during the first four months of 2026, down from 32.3% a year earlier, as easing prices, improving inventory and changing market conditions helped more financed buyers re-enter the market, Realtor.com says. Cash buyers are pulling back faster than the market as a whole: total home sales fell 8.5% year- over-year, but the number of cash sales fell 11.2% as the pool of cash buyers shrinks, according to Realtor.com. Cash buyers aren't disappearing; they're simply becoming less dominant as the housing market finds its footing, Realtor.com says. More inventory and moderating prices are giving financed buyers more opportunities to compete, Realtor.com says. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1055 ET - Investors await Nvidia's earnings due to be released on Aug. 26 to provide insights on the strength and broadness of demand for AI, UBS Global Wealth Management's Mark Haefele says in a note. This comes as some investors worry about circular financing in the AI industry, Haefele says. Nvidia has teamed up with big financial institutions to create a financing package of over $500 billion for AI expenditure. This initiative "has raised questions about circularity when suppliers help finance purchases within their own ecosystem," Haefele says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1054 ET - Rising interest-rate expectations for the Riksbank have failed to support the Swedish krona, Commerzbank's Michael Pfister says in a note. The evidence instead suggests that, in the short term, the krona tends to drive rate expectations rather than vice versa, he says. One possible reason for this is the lower liquidity in Swedish capital markets, prompting investors to sell Swedish assets in the event of geopolitical shocks. Krona movements could also be feeding directly into rate expectations via imported inflation. A lasting end to the Middle East conflict would support the krona relative to the Norwegian krone, he says. The krona would benefit from lower oil prices and wouldn't be affected by the pricing out of rate rises. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

1046 ET - U.S. home prices increased 0.27% month-over-month in July, Redfin says. That's essentially flat from a 0.28% growth rate in June. Prices rose 3.4% from a year earlier, the fastest annual growth in a year. Buyers are still contending with high housing costs including high mortgage rates keeping a lid on demand. At the same time, there are hundreds of thousands more sellers than buyers in the market. The strong luxury market is one reason why price growth remains fairly strong despite tepid demand, Redfin says. Luxury home prices are rising faster than non-luxury prices. Wealthy homebuyers are having an outsized impact on home-price growth, especially in affluent markets like the Bay Area and South Florida. Home prices rose in 29 major U.S. metros month-over-month on a seasonally adjusted basis in July, according to Redfin.