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

1153 ET -- American Express hasn't made changes to its market budget, but it is in a position to increase expenses in an environment of uncertainty, CEO Stephen Squeri says on a call with analysts. "Our marketing budget is a lot bigger than it ever has been," Squeri says. "We have several levers across our marketing and operating expense lines, enabling us to quickly pivot if the environment changes," the executive says. Overall, the credit card company has a tremendous amount of expense flexibility within those lines, Squeri adds. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1139 ET - American Express saw a deceleration in airline spending in the latest quarter, but people continue booking more flights as the credit-card company's customer base remains untouched by macro uncertainty, CEO Stephen Squeri says on an analyst call, citing a highest-ever number of travel bookings, including a high in international bookings from its travel-related services. Despite a lack of confidence in the economy, Squeri says, the company's card members are still spending and "they're not spending off what's in the market." Squeri adds that through the 11 financial crises he's endured with the company, he has not seen such events become a "determining driver from a credit-crunch perspective" for Amex. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1129 ET -- American Express is getting gains from the core of its customer base -- a global premium consumer. The credit-card company's customer base has grown over the past several years and has only gotten more premium over this multiyear period, CEO Stephen Squeri says on a call with analysts. Its current card base is more premium now than it was in 2019, with higher FICOs, too. American Express' demand for its premium products continues to be strong and stable in the March quarter, CFO Christophe Le Caillec says. "These products tend to attract high credit-worthy customers, supporting our model of growing lending while maintaining best-in-class credit performance," Le Caillec adds. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1104 ET -- American Express's U.S. consumer base elevated its spend in the March quarter despite macro uncertainty, with small to medium enterprises driving a modest acceleration in growth amid potentially incoming price increases due to tariffs, CFO Christophe Le Caillec says on a call with analysts. Millennial and Gen. Z customers once again drove the credit card company's highest billed business growth within its core market, with commercial services spend up 3% from last year. AmEx flags continued strength in restaurant and lodging spending, which offset a deceleration in airline spending relative to 2024 trends. Spending on front of cabin tickets did, however, climb around 11% in the quarter on the back of its wealthy consumer base. All of that while the company's credit performance remained "very strong," Le Caillec says, with flat delinquency and write-off rates. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1057 ET - UnitedHealth Group's 1Q report was a big surprise for investors and analysts who thought the company had properly accounted for higher care costs in its 2025 insurance rates, Edward Jones analyst John Boylan says in a research note. Clearly that wasn't the case, with costs even rising in its healthcare services business Optum, which rarely offers much drama, the analyst says. Those Optum costs seem to be high because members were using more services than expected compared with last year, Boylan says. He believes the company can return to the kind of growth rates it's used to seeing, but it may take longer than previously anticipated, the analyst says. UnitedHealth slides 22%. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1049 ET - American Express added 3.4 million new cards in the latest quarter, and "as in past quarters, millennial and Gen Z consumers made up over 60% of new consumer accounts acquired globally in Q1," CEO Stephen Squeri says on a call with analysts. Squeri adds that card members have high incomes, high spending habits and excellent credit profiles. Overall, while the level of macroeconomic uncertainty has increased, the activity that American Express sees across its customer base "is consistent with and, in many cases, better than what we saw in 2024," Finance Chief Christophe Le Caillec adds. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1032 ET - Home price growth paused and inventory swelled during March, according to Zillow, despite mortgage rates reaching a 2025 low in March. Sellers made a strong showing in March, putting more than 375,000 homes on the market--an increase of nearly 9% compared to the same time last year. But buyers didn't keep up. Newly pending sales were essentially flat compared to last year, even though average mortgage rates were lower this year--6.65% on average in March, compared to 6.82% a year before. About 265,000 listings went into a pending sale in March--110,000 fewer than came on the market. This mismatch pushed inventory up to 1.15 million homes--19% over last year--the most inventory buyers have seen in March since 2020. Affordability is still challenging buyers. The typical home value rose 0.2% month-over- month in March. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1026 ET - An estimated 55% of UnitedHealth Group's guidance cut was driven by margin pressure in the company's OptumHealth business, Mizuho analysts say in a research note. That pressure is coming from changes in patient profiles and probably challenges to coding that stem from the second year of phasing in for a Medicare V28 risk adjuster model, the analysts say. OptumHealth's operating profit declined 15% while revenue came down 5%, driven by revisions to legacy customer contracts and member profile factors, they say. UnitedHealth reports that unexpected profile changes for OptumHealth members weighed on planned 2025 reimbursements. UnitedHealth tumbles 20%. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1012 ET - Nationwide, the median home-sale price rose 2.6% year-over-year during the four weeks ending April 13, according to Redfin. That's down from 5% to 6% growth at the end of 2024 and the start of 2025. The median home-sale price is down from a year ago in 10 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas, mostly in Texas and Florida. Price growth is losing steam nationally because supply is rising while demand is slow. New listings of homes for sale are up 11.2% year-over-year, and the total number of homes for sale is up 12.3%. Meanwhile, pending home sales declined roughly 1% from a year ago, and mortgage-purchase applications are down 5% week-over-week. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

0920 ET - Canadians mortgage and credit-card debt both increased. The overall credit liabilities of households in the country rose 0.3% on-month in February to hit C$3.053 trillion, Statistics Canada data shows. That marks an acceleration on an annualized basis to 4.1% growth from 3.3% in January. Household mortgage debt was 0.4% higher, climbing by C$9.1 billion overall after a similar C$9 billion advance a month earlier. Non-mortgage debt ticked up 0.1%, with credit card debt held by chartered banks climbing 0.3% in a similar rise as in January. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

0916 ET - Professional services firm Marsh McLennan reports a 9% jump in 1Q revenue, but some of the top line figures were shy of Wall Street targets, weighing on shares. Total revenue of $7.06 billion missed analyst estimates, according to FactSet. The company's risk and insurance services business, its largest segment, logged 11% higher revenue at $4.76 billion, but analysts were looking for more. Consulting revenue was a brighter spot, rising 5% to clear forecasts. Shares slip 2.7% to $225 premarket. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

0900 ET - Canada's Teranet-National Bank housing-price index declines on a month-over-month basis for the third consecutive time in March, or another data point indicating potential homebuyers are entrenched on the sidelines amid heightened economic uncertainty. The index falls 0.4% in March on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which National Bank says is a sharper decline relative to previous months. Since the time President Trump revealed his intention to slap 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports, home prices are down 0.7%. The decline is most pronounced in Canada's most populous province, Ontario, which is also the country's manufacturing and export hub. On a 12-month basis, prices are 2.3% higher. (Paul.Vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 17, 2025 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)

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