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.
0919 ET - The Clarity Act passed through a Senate committee, moving the bill closer to a full-Senate vote. The progress was seen as positive for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but the gains seen Thursday have since receded. Bitcoin is currently down 1.6% to $80,079, according to data from LSEG. "Bitcoin ran out of steam very quickly after yesterday's little pump on the Clarity Act news," says Nic Puckrin of Coin Bureau in a note. "The $82,000 resistance level proved insurmountable, despite institutional buying via ETFs." Uncertainty stemming from the ongoing Middle East conflict is also weighing on prices. Puckrin says that $82,000 is the key resistance level bitcoin has to surpass to continue rallying further. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0857 ET - Salesforce is still under pressure as investors wait for updates on its business reacceleration, but the company appears to be making progress ahead of 1Q results slated for later this month, say Stifel analysts. "Our checks pointed to steady adoption and continued interest within the base, the shift towards more consumption-based pricing" and the launch of the company's Headless architecture that doesn't require a browser as net positives, they say. "We see room for 'Agentforce Apps' to come in better-than-feared and 'Data 360, Platform, & Other' to continue riding AI tailwinds." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
0820 ET - Spending on corporate travel looks like it's improving, according to Melius Research in a note. The firm's measure, which weighs the top 100 corporate travel spenders' earnings revisions by what each spent on travel in 2024, shows trends were positive through the fall and into early this year before surging in April's earnings season, with tech players like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Apple contributing most given meaningfully better 2026 outlooks. "Real-time data is confirming what the revisions suggest," analysts Conor Cunningham and Patrick Coleman say, noting recent commentary from airlines like Delta and Alaska as well as hotel companies like Marriott and Hyatt. The improving trends align with commentary from Hilton, which noted the U.S. economy continues to benefit from infrastructure spending, the CHIPS Act, and AI-driven capital expenditures. "Those spending dollars are finding their way into travel," the analysts say.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
0657 ET - Quebecor's telecom business is emerging as one of the brighter spots in Canada's communications sector, prompting TD Cowen to lift its price target by C$6 to C$69. Analyst Vince Valentini says the company's steady wireless momentum and improving broadband trends support higher forecasts and valuations. Much will hinge on mobile pricing, he notes, as Quebecor and other Canadian carriers work to keep mobile plan rates stable despite intense competition among them. Quebecor stands a chance here, according to Valentini. "We are constructive around the setup of wireless and wireline pricing for QBR as the year progresses," he says. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
0645 ET - Contract drug manufacturers look set to benefit from the U.S. government's accelerated push to bring more pharmaceutical production onshore, RBC Capital Markets' Charles Weston and Natalia Webster say in a research note. The U.S. commerce department this week gave pharma companies that haven't signed a drug-pricing deal with the government a June 12 deadline to name their U.S. contract manufacturing partners and outline their investment plans through January 2029. "This may create an accelerated pipeline of new business opportunities for [contract drug manufacturing organizations] with available U.S. capacity," the analysts say. Contract drug manufacturers such as Lonza, Siegfried, Bachem, Evotec, Samsung Biologics, Fujifilm and Thermo Fisher stand to gain from the compressed timeline, according to RBC. The Stoxx Euro 600 Health Care index rises 0.2%.(adria.calatayud@wsj.com)
0525 ET - Orange, Bouygues and Free-Iliad's exclusivity extension for Altice takeover talks isn't surprising, Deutsche Bank analysts write in a note. The three French telecom operators said the period is now extended through June 5 to continue discussions for their 20.35 billion-euro bid to buy Altice's French business, known as SFR. The analysts see the extension of the exclusivity period as a small positive. Orange and Bouygues shares are down 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)
0507 ET - China will make its own determinations on whether to buy Nvidia chips, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg. Washington authorized Nvidia to export its H200 chips to China, though Beijing hasn't formally approved shipments. "They're very committed to domestic production," Greer told Bloomberg, noting that the Chinese often see U.S. high tech as a threat. "If we're ahead of the game, like we are on AI chips, sometimes they feel that that can stop their own growth," he told Bloomberg. Nvidia shares are down 2.4% premarket at $230.00. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)
0506 ET - ITV selling its media-and-entertainment arm to Comcast's Sky is far from guaranteed, Baader Europe's Alexandre Desprez writes in a note. "Long discussions are lasting, probably signaling difficulties to dislocate operationally the company," he says. However, if the U.K. broadcaster manages to secure a deal, the quarter should be seen as a good one for its shareholders, he adds. For the first quarter, ITV reported slightly higher revenue thanks to growth in its studios segment and despite logging a decline in advertising revenue. ITV shares are down 2.9% at 78.10 pence. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)
0455 ET - Semiconductors weren't a major point of discussion during President Trump's China summit, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg. The U.S. authorized Nvidia to export its H200 chips to China, though Beijing hasn't formally approved shipments. Expectations of a breakthrough had been building after Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang joined a delegation of CEOs that traveled to China with Trump. "We did not talk about chip export controls at the meeting," Greer told Bloomberg. Nvidia shares are down 2.2% premarket at $230.56. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)
0439 ET - Tencent expects the delivery of domestic chips to pick up in 2H, as production capacity gradually eases, Citi analysts say, noting management's confidence in weathering compute and memory constraints. The company is also well positioned to benefit from long-term relationship with global memory suppliers and increased availability of domestic memory shipment, Citi notes. Tencent is seen to continue to prioritize GPU allocation for internal uses especially for its AI products Hy3, WorkBuddy, CodeBuddy as well as its advertising recommendation model, they add, citing management. Shares last ended at HK$456.40. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
0432 ET - Telefonica's first-quarter earnings growth looks positive, ING's Jan Frederik Slijkerman writes in a note. The Spanish telecommunications group delivered a robust performance in the quarter, with revenue and adjusted Ebitda growth, he says. However, the group's progress in reducing its debt level remains disappointing, he adds. Shares are down 2.2% at 3.95 euros. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)
0417 ET - Shares of European semiconductor companies are in the red after President Trump left China without announcing any major tech deals. The president had brought along a delegation of CEOs like Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla's Elon Musk to the summit and investors had expected updates on Nvidia's sales in China or other tech deals. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that Nvidia and semiconductors weren't front and center during the summit. Shares of STMicroelectronics--which supplies Apple, Tesla and SpaceX--are down 4.4%. Shares of German chip maker Infineon Technologies are down 5.9%. Shares of Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding and smaller rival ASM International are down 4.5% and 3.9%, respectively. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 15, 2026 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)
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