The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
0832 GMT - European indexes rise across the board as a rally in U.S. stocks Thursday extends across the Atlantic. Spain's IBEX 35 continues its strong run, climbing 0.6% on the back of gains for industrial and financial companies. The Dutch AEX adds 0.3%, with technology investor Prosus climbing 2.05% even after a broad Oracle-induced hit to U.S. tech stocks Thursday. Italy's FTSE MIB climbs 0.7%, with gaming company Lottomatica adding 2.5% out the blocks. The German DAX rises 0.4%, supported by Adidas gaining 1.7%. The French CAC 40 is up 0.45%, the while U.K.'s FTSE 100 is up 0.4% with strong gains from miners. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0805 GMT - Bitcoin falls on concerns about lofty artificial intelligence-related stocks following results from Oracle and Broadcom. Broadcom shares dropped in after-hours trade after the chip company's sales outlook fell short of expectations and it warned of lower margins in AI revenue compared to non-AI revenue. Oracle shares dropped Thursday after the database company posted disappointing revenues and raised its spending forecast. The results reignite fears over an AI bubble, offsetting the positive impact of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate cut on Wednesday for risky assets. Bitcoin falls 0.5% to $92,459, LSEG data show. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
0415 GMT - China's internet companies may accelerate AI-related investments if Nvidia is ultimately allowed to sell its H200 chips in the country, S&P Global Ratings analysts say in a note. They estimate Alibaba and Tencent could spend up to $2 billion or more on H200 purchases if existing U.S. restrictions are eased. Spending could rise further if supply improves and Nvidia raises prices to offset the 25% levy payable to the U.S. government from sales. Higher AI spending may pressure Alibaba's cash flow, while Tencent is better positioned to absorb the spending given its larger free cash flow buffer. Still, both can afford the higher outlays, S&P notes. However, policy and supply risks remains elevated as U.S. regulations could change again, while China may discourage Nvidia purchases by domestic companies. (jason.chau@wsj.com)
2043 GMT - Broadcom reported capital expenditures well ahead of expectations, but investors are reacting better than they did to the same results coming from Oracle. The semiconductor company says it spent $237 million on capital expenditures in the fourth quarter, more the $157 million analysts expected, according to FactSet. The costs weren't nearly as high as Oracle, which said Wednesday evening it spent $12 billion in its most recently ended quarter, compared with the $8 billion projected by analysts. Oracle's stock closed down 11% on Thursday. Broadcom's shares, meanwhile, are up 2.7% after the bell. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
2037 GMT - Broadcom expects AI revenue growth to shoot even higher in 2026. Chief Executive Hock Tan says management expects AI-semiconductor revenue to double year-over-year to $8.2 billion in 2026, up from 74% growth in 2025. Some analysts, including Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes, were expecting this level of growth as the company aims to broaden its sales of tensor processing units beyond Google to Anthropic and Meta. Broadcom's forecast is generally above consensus estimates, though, as the company is expecting $19.1 billion in first-quarter revenue, ahead of the $18.39 billion analysts project. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1612 GMT - A potential acquisition of E.W. Scripps by Sinclair would create a local-television-station company with significant scale, but a merger could carry risks for shareholders of both companies, JPMorgan analysts say. Sinclair would need to successfully create significant synergies from the merger to carry the high debt burden it accepts from Scripps. Meanwhile, the risk for Scripps shareholders comes if they receive equity as part of the merger. That would require confidence that the new company will successfully generate those synergies and that the broadcast industry sustains present valuations, which are currently being boosted by favorable regulatory changes, the analysts say. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1556 GMT -- Disney's $1 billion investment in OpenAI will serve as an entry point into artificial intelligence, which CEO Bob Iger says in an interview with CNBC will have a significant long-term impact on the company's business. "We want to participate in what Sam (Altman) is creating, and what his team is creating," Iger says. "We think this is a good investment for the company." The investment comes as part of a three-year licensing deal Disney has struck with OpenAI, which will allow the AI company to use Disney's characters and properties to generate short, user-prompted social videos. Shares tick up 1.4%. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1518 GMT [Dow Jones]--Verizon is lowering prices to become more competitive in the wireless market but that could prove to be a mistake, say KeyBanc analysts Brandon Nispel and Matt Sbriglio. It risks forcing the company to lower prices for its existing prices and could prompt additional price cuts from competitors that it won't be able to match. "The company appears willing to sacrifice industry health to improve its own, pressuring valuations," the analysts say. Verizon should instead be focused on reducing churn through strategies like device upgrade programs. "VZ's issue is not that it can't get customers, it's that it can't keep them," the analysts say. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1347 GMT - Wall Street increasingly bets the Fed would cut twice or more in 2026, after Chair Powell expressed concerns about labor markets yesterday. "A dovish Fed should be broadly supportive of risk assets particularly growth and cyclicals," Global X's Scott Helfstein says. "Industries tied to the corporate investment cycle could also be well positioned as borrowing rates come down." Helfstein adds that short-duration bonds and possibly gold "could be a little less attractive." He recommends shifting towards areas like infrastructure and materials like copper, alongside investments in AI, data centers, and robotics. "Longer duration bonds may get a little more attention if short-term rates fall," he says. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
1346 GMT -- Sora users will soon be able to ask the generative AI video platform to create clips featuring Disney's cast of characters, from Mickey Mouse and Olaf, to Captain America and Han Solo. That's because OpenAI signed a three-year licensing agreement with the entertainment company, under which Disney will additionally invest $1 billion in the AI company and become "a major customer," leveraging OpenAI's technologies to build new products, tools and experiences. "Bringing together Disney's iconic stories and characters with OpenAI's groundbreaking technology puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we've never seen before, giving them richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love," Disney CEO Bob Iger says. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1300 GMT - While Oracle's F2Q results were largely strong, Oppenheimer analysts say, they're "also unlikely to overcome investors' high expectations for Oracle when compared to recent quarterly reports." On the plus side, F2Q showed solid results across RPO, Cloud Revenue, OCI, and multi cloud database revenue, Oppenheimer says. There was also encouraging commentary on data center build outs and momentum across its AI business, according to the analysts in a note. But at the same time, down margins and the increasing CapEx outlook underscore mounting anxiety from investors about the financial and execution risks, the analysts say, noting these concerns are likely to weigh on the stock in the near term. Oracle slides 13% premarket. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1238 GMT - Oracle's F2Q earnings miss--and subsequent 13% premarket sell-off--are prompting more jitters among tech investors, Wedbush analysts say in a research note. But "while the bears will run with this number and yell fire in a crowded theater this morning, we strongly disagree with this view," they write. They cite Oracle's remaining performance obligations of $523 billion, compared with Wall Street views for $500 billion, as the reason for their bullishness. "This is the number we are most focused on around the future and health of Oracle's AI buildout and strategy looking ahead," the analysts write. They see the sell-off as a buying opportunity. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2025 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)
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