The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1756 ET - Modern warfare's shift toward drones leads Jefferies to start coverage of DroneShield. The company makes Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems, or C-UAS, which are popular with militaries seeking to bolster their defenses. Analyst William Richardson points out that NATO has committed to 1.5% of GDP by 2035 to protect infrastructure, networks and other items which would include C-UAS. He sees little risk of prime defense contractors, such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, competing in counter-drone technology. Still, Jefferies says it's unsure about the long-term effectiveness of DroneShield's radio frequency tech in the context of rapidly evolving UAS technology. Jefferies starts coverage of DroneShield with a hold call and A$3.70/share price target. DroneShield ended Thursday at A$4.21. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1754 ET - FiscalNote Holdings is the most recent company to reference artificial intelligence as it announces widespread layoffs. The company says that it will cut 25% of its workforce as it leverages AI automation and offshoring to cut costs. Earlier this month, Atlassian said it would cut 10% of its staff, citing the need to adapt to AI. And Block said in February that it would slash nearly half of its workforce as it moves to automate more labor with AI. The string of announcements comes amid growing concerns about the role of human workers in an economy increasingly run on AI tools and agents. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1747 ET - Australian consumers are buying more China-made cars and Eagers Automotive is well-placed to benefit from this trend, says Jefferies. Chinese cars now account for 20% of new vehicle sales in Australia, up from 10% in 2024. Analyst John Campbell says Eagers is less reliant than other dealers on selling cars made in Europe and North America, which he expects will continue to lose market share. "We also believe that Eagers being (well) overindexed to BYD and to a less extent Chery is extremely positive," Jefferies says. It retains a buy call and A$29.50/share price target on Eagers, which ended Thursday at A$20.09. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1717 ET - A public venture fund, whose top holdings include Anthropic, Databricks and OpenAI, saw shares surge on its first day of trading. Fundrise Innovation Fund listed its shares under the ticker VCX on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company's shares opened at $31.25, reached an intraday high of $128, and closed at $76.16 a share. The trading price compares to a Net Asset Value of the fund of $18.97 per share. "It seems the market was excited about VCX and our mission to democratize access to the best private tech companies," said Benjamin Miller, chief executive of Fundrise. (yuliya.chernova@wsj.com; @ychernova)
1651 ET - FedEx shipped more packages and squeezed more revenue from each shipment in the third quarter. The Memphis, Tenn., company shipped an average of 18.5 million packages a day, a 3% increase from the year before. The average revenue per package increased 6%. Total package revenue jumped 10% to $19.4 billion, thanks in part to a 10% jump in U.S. sales. The strong shipping numbers come as FedEx is spinning off its Freight business and executing a turnaround plan to cut costs. Shares gain 8.5% after hours. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1618 ET - The secondary market for private market-fund stakes, long seen as a last resort for investors in need of liquidity, now benefits from "several long-term factors," Matt Swain, global co-head of equity capital solutions at investment bank Houlihan Lokey, says in a report. "These include the spread of secondaries as an investment management tool" to strategies beyond buyouts, such as credit and infrastructure, he says. He also cites "inflows of new money from both institutional investors and retail investors" into secondary-focused funds. Also, a survey Houlihan conducted with buyers and sellers in secondary markets shows that only 4% of respondents expect prices to decline this year. "The [survey] indicates that current pricing is in a healthy place, with a good supply of everything from top-quality assets to long-in-the-tooth tail ends," Swain says. (luis.garcia@wsj.com; @lhvgarcia)
1605 ET - U.S. stock averages end lower, but well above their worst levels of the session, after President Trump says he wouldn't "put troops anywhere" when asked about moving forces toward Iran. U.S. WTI oil edges higher after sinking earlier in the day as the latest round of attacks on energy facilities fed fears of a wider energy crisis. Materials are the weakest sector as precious metals continue to decline, while energy stocks rise the most. DJIA falls 203 points, or 0.4%, to 46021, the S&P 500 loses 0.3% to 6606 and the Nasdaq slips 0.3% to 22090. (patrick.sullivan@wsj.com)
1321 ET - When it comes to artificial intelligence displacing software, the best defense is a good offense, according to Oppenheimer in a note. "Software suppliers need to be disruptors," the analysts say. "Companies that do not transform the architecture will likely be disrupted." They say software suppliers need to invest in AI-native platforms to first disrupt categories outside of the core business, and then the core business itself, even at the expense of near-term margin dilution. "Agents will work with humans, so software companies need to become the agentic layer for customers and disrupt other categories where the incumbents are innovating at a slower rate," the analysts say. "AI innovation is happening so fast that software companies should also accelerate rearchitecting platform and products with native AI solutions." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1320 ET - Oppenheimer analysts identify stocks they see as best- and worst-positioned to rebound from AI disruption, using a framework that benefits AI innovation, consumption-based pricing models, and sticky enterprise technology stacks, as well as favorable valuations. Within this framework, they see Oracle, Microsoft, and Agilysys as top picks. On the flip side, they name Adobe, Monday.com, Paycom Software, and Freshworks as most exposed to disruption, downgrading Freshworks to perform. "The suppliers whose solutions are more function-specific, primarily sell seat-based models, and limit AI revenue disclosures are most at risk of disruption from native AI and faster-moving competitors," they write. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1312 ET - Software companies should switch to a consumption-based pricing model if they want to remain strong in the face of artificial-intelligence-native competitors, Oppenheimer analysts write in a note. As businesses switch toward proliferating AI agents over human workers, software companies sticking to a per-seat pricing model may be left in the dust. With potentially millions or even billions of agents in play, "businesses will not want to pay a per-agent fee, but rather pay based on the agent usage," the analysts write. "The faster a company can lean into a consumption value model, the more defensible the moat and predictability of future growth." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1300 ET - Tesla's stock price doesn't really depend on is auto deliveries anymore, but on the narrative around the company's AI ventures like its robotaxi and Optimus businesses, UBS analysts say in a note. There have also been more questions on Tesla's Terafab project and solar business lately, the analysts say. "The amount of investor conversations we have about the traditional auto business and business fundamentals is very low," the analysts say. Investors have been saying recently that Robotaxi and Optimus updates are slower and more muted than expected, they add. Still, while sentiment will continue to drive the stock, Tesla's auto business is what primarily helps fund its cash flow and, in turn, its investments for growth, the analysts say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1223 ET - Nike has likely had lackluster global sales momentum so far this month, UBS analysts say in a note, citing their channel checks. As a result, the analysts expect Nike's guidance for the current quarter will miss Wall Street's expectations, while its fiscal third-quarter earnings will come in line with estimates, they say. "Importantly, we don't anticipate Nike's 4Q outlook to signal a meaningful q/q improvement for its sales growth trend," the analysts say. The company is expected to report fiscal 3Q earnings on March 31. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 17:57 ET (21:57 GMT)
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