The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1121 ET -- Arm Holdings' move to sell CPU chips underlines the relevance of CPUs to support agentic artificial-intelligence, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. Arm's CPU has class-leading performance per watt and is specifically designed to execute agentic AI workflows, the analysts write. They note Arm's projection that each gigawatt of agentic workflow currently takes 30 million CPU cores, with that number expected to rise fourfold by 2030, with multi-agent workloads. The chip is similar to Nvidia's Vera Rubin chip: a power-efficient, mid-market chip with broad appeal. "The idea that the CPU is irrelevant in AI cloud has been scotched, thanks to the rollout of agentic inference," the analysts write. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1116 ET - Arm Holdings' shift to selling semiconductor chips is strategically sound given the increasing popularity of agentic AI, but the commercial ramp up is likely to take some time, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. The chip business is likely to be loss making initially, they write, although they project an earnings before interest and taxes margin of more than 30% on sales of $14.4 billion by the end of fiscal 2031. There are other near-term risks: the memory chip shortage weighing on consumer electronic sales, continuing litigation with Qualcomm, and the possibility that Arm's move into chip-making may put it in competition with licensees like Nvidia and Apple. Morgan Stanley raises Arm's price target to $150 but downgrades the stock to equal-weight from overweight. Shares are down 7.1% in late morning trading. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1108 ET - There's meat on the bone at Wingstop, even though shares have been in a tailspin so far this year, Citigroup analysts say in a research note. They attributed the selloff to the company's turbulent long-term sales growth and high-level data that suggests a weak upcoming quarterly financial report. While there doesn't appear to be an immediate fix for Wingstop's problems, the analysts note that the chain is well positioned to grow over the long term. Store counts continue to rise, as do guest conversions and brand awareness. That means Wingstop has the ability to improve sales over the coming months with increased product innovation and consumer mobilization, the analysts say. They add the chain could see a World Cup boost this year as well. Citigroup upgrades Wingstop to buy from neutral, and cuts its price target to $230 from $286. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1101 ET -- Uber is expanding its use of Amazon Web Services chips, Amazon says in a blog post. The company says Uber is increasingly running Trip Serving Zones, part of its internal rides and deliveries system, on AWS' Graviton4 chips in an effort to reduce energy consumption and improve resilience during demand spikes. "Moving more Trip Serving workloads to AWS gives us the flexibility to match riders and drivers faster and handle delivery demand spikes without disruption," says Uber's vice president of engineering, Kamran Zargahi. Uber is also experimenting with AWS's Tranium3 chips to train its internal artificial-intelligence models, Amazon says. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1043 ET - Canadian telecom companies are heading into what's expected to be a weaker 1Q as heavy promotional activity earlier in the year weighs on results. CIBC analyst Stephanie Price says that while the post-holiday period is usually quieter, "this 1Q was an anomaly, with wireless pricing becoming aggressive in mid-January and promotions continuing through quarter end." She forecasts consolidated industry revenue and adjusted Ebitda each rising about 1% from a year earlier, driven mostly by recent acquisitions.(adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1042 ET - There are catalysts ahead for Morgan Stanley, UBS analysts write in a note, upgrading the stock to buy. The firm's investment banking and markets franchises are both positioned to outperform this cycle, they write, with the investment banking unit poised to benefit from an M&A super cycle and a pickup in IPOs. The analysts also note a coming intergenerational wealth transfer to the tune of $20 trillion, which should allow Morgan Stanley to gain share in its wealth management business. Morgan Stanely is also unafraid of change and should stand to benefit from AI-driven productivity gains, they write. "Operating leverage will increasingly materialize as asset growth compounds and productivity per advisor improves, aided by the technology investments the company has made," the UBS analysts said. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1023 ET - Gilead Sciences is buying out another cancer-drug partner with its deal to pay up to $5 billion for Tubulis. Gilead in February said it would buy the rest of Arcellx, its partner in developing a potential CAR T-cell therapy for the blood cancer multiple myeloma, in a deal valuing the biotech company at about $7.8 billion at closing. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets say the Tubulis acquisition represents a strategically sound bolt-on that addresses Gilead's oncology pipeline growth needs while securing differentiated next-generation antibody-drug conjugate platform capabilities. (colin.kellaher@wsj.com)
1006 ET - Global markets have shown relative resilience, only posting mild selloffs amid the Middle East war. This modest reaction looks justified, Deutsche Bank's Henry Allen says in a note. Recently released U.S. jobs data and eurozone purchasing managers index survey show the economies remain sturdy, supporting markets' performance, Allen says. In addition, central banks are not signalling aggressive interest rate rises unlike during the 2022 oil shock when major central banks strongly supported rate rises, he says. "Given today's crisis doesn't yet meet the severity thresholds of past oil shocks, the more limited market reaction makes sense." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
1000 ET - Surveys of British firms suggest that should the Iran war drag on longer, a recession in the looks likely, RSM U.K.'s Thomas Pugh says in a note. "The inevitable conclusion from this morning's final PMI numbers for March is that the U.K. is in for another bout of stagflation, even if the conflict ends soon," he says. The PMIs show output falling further and input prices rising faster, with the conflict seemingly already having hit on demand and employment. "The immediate impact in the PMIs is concerning given it normally takes a while for geopolitical events to feed through," he says. The length of the conflict and impact on output prices makes it more likely that the Bank of England will hike rates this year, he adds. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
0955 ET - Gilead Sciences continues its buying binge, entering a deal to acquire Tubulis for $3.15 billion in cash, plus up to $1.85 billion in contingent milestone payments. Gilead says its purchase of the biotechnology company that develops next-generation antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs, builds on Gilead's oncology pipeline, focused on addressing areas of high unmet need. Gilead has been on an acquisition spree. Last week it extended the expiration of its tender offer to acquire Arcellx to April 24. In February, Gilead agreed to acquire Arcellx in a deal that valued the company at $7.8 billion. In March, Gilead announced plans to acquire Ouro Medicines, a developer of autoimmune-disease therapies, for up to about $2.18 billion. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
0919 ET -- Pembina Pipeline's guidance through 2023 brings the company in line with its peers, says Scotiabank's Robert Hope. In a report, the analyst notes that the energy infrastructure company set its growth outlook through 2030, targeting 5%-7% compound annual fee-based adjusted Ebitda-per-share growth. The analyst says the targets represent a roughly 100 basis-point step-up from its prior 2024-2026 growth target, "and more in-line with its Canadian pipeline peers, which we view favorably." The growth is underpinned by improved returns on existing assets as utilization increases, and with the incremental contribution from projects under construction as well as a portfolio of opportunities designed to extend the franchise, Hope says. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
0911 ET - Berkeley Group has the potential to return more than its market capitalization to shareholders via dividends or buybacks over the next five years, Jefferies analysts write. The London-listed housebuilder could return 2.975 billion pounds of capital compared with its market capitalization of 2.8 billion pounds, they write. "At the end of the capital return, we forecast Berkeley to remain a very credible and well positioned company," the analysts write in a research note. Shares rise 2.7% to 32.54 pounds, but are down 17% over the year to date. (ian.walker@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2026 11:21 ET (15:21 GMT)
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