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.
1512 ET - So called "hard" industries such as energy, chemicals and machinery accounted for 46% of the total value of leveraged buyouts worldwide in 1Q, up from only 13% in the first three months of last year, according to private-equity firm Carlyle Group, which cites data from Dealogic. Meanwhile, information industries' share of such deals dropped to 11% from 27%. "Capital is moving toward physical infrastructure, energy resilience and rebuilt industrial capacity," Carlyle says. Public markets also reflect the trend, with stocks of industrials, materials and energy companies that are part of the S&P 500 index all climbing more than 12% year-to-date, Carlyle adds. "Persistently higher interest rates and greater long-term uncertainty may be encouraging investors to focus on companies with near-term cash flow generation." (luis.garcia@wsj.com; @lhvgarcia)
1437 ET - Google is revamping Google Search, its flagship search engine, with artificial-intelligence. Using the new Gemini 3.5 Flash model, Google says that AI Mode and AI Overviews will be further embedded into the search box for a more seamless experience. Search will also draw on Gemini Spark, the company's new agentic AI assistant, which can execute tasks or shop for products through the Search interface. Gemini will also be able to generate images, videos, or code on a custom basis in response to search queries. "This is the biggest upgrade to our iconic search box since its debut over 25 years ago," Google Head of Search Elizabeth Reid says at the company's 2026 I/O conference.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1405 ET - Google is launching an agentic AI assistant called Gemini Spark, a Gemini tool capable of acting on a user's behalf. The assistant, running on the new Gemini 3.5 Flash model, will be embedded in Google's suite of products and run on its cloud infrastructure, the company says at its developer conference. The announcement comes amid rapidly growing interest in agentic AI tools, with Spark set to compete with agentic assistants like Anthropic's Claude Cowork. Spark is being released to a limited number of users, and will be available next week to subscribers of a new Google AI Ultra subscription for $100 a month. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1358 ET - Google rolls out Gemini 3.5 Flash, the latest in its series of Gemini AI models. It's "our first in a series of models combining frontier intelligence with action," CEO Sundar Pichai says at the company's 2026 I/O developer conference, adding that the model has made "huge progress" in coding and outperforms Gemini 3.1 Pro on almost all benchmarks. The model is also four times faster than other frontier models, Pichai says.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1353 ET - Google launches Gemini Omni, a new multimodal AI model designed to create photos and videos drawing on real-world understanding of physical concepts. The model is beginning with video, but will soon be able to "generate any output from any input," Demis Hassabis, who leads Google's DeepMind unit, says at the company's 2026 I/O conference. "It's a step change in simulating things like kinetic energy and gravity," Hassabis says. "Gemini's world knowledge and reasoning really shine in Omni." Google is launching Gemini Omni Flash immediately, with information about Omni Pro coming soon, Hassabis says.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1350 ET - Monthly active users of Google's Gemini AI app have more than doubled to 900 million over the past year, CEO Sundar Pichai says at the company's 2026 I/O developer conference, with daily requests up more than seven times. The company is now processing upwards of 3.2 quadrillion artificial-intelligence tokens per month, Pichai adds, representing a sevenfold increase from 480 trillion monthly tokens a year ago, and up from 9.7 trillion monthly tokens in May 2024. The rapid growth of Gemini has contributed to a 25% increase in the stock price of Google parent Alphabet this year and positioned the company as one of the leading AI research companies. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1334 ET - The demand environment for Salesforce seems to be softer as the company prepares to report 1Q slated for next week, according to Deutsche Bank in a note. The analysts cite conversations with partners in the Salesforce ecosystem. "Deal volumes felt a bit lighter than expected with some deals having stalled, reflecting persistent budget scrutiny and more cautious buying cycles," the analysts say. "The ability to forecast usage-based spend remains a significant challenge for the ecosystem." The analysts also say one factor contributing to potential 1Q softness was a pull-forward of deals, as some customers took advantage of renewing early in 4Q. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1248 ET - Constellation Software's decentralized model is still holding strong, says Paul Treiber of RBC in a note. He believes the model fosters leadership development across the firm, where successful managers delivering high returns have autonomy and resources to scale their respective businesses. Treiber says this was on display at the recent annual general shareholders' meeting, where the company was able to show off the depth of its team. "This further affirms our view that Constellation is likely to continue to scale and compound capital at high rates," Treiber says. Constellation Software jumps 8.8% to C$2,843.53. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1241 ET - Canadian software stocks rise as they play catch-up with an upswing in U.S. software names Monday when Canadian markets were closed for Victoria Day. Richard Tse of National Bank Capital Markets says the move mirrors gains in the IGV software ETF. Sentiment is also getting a lift from Constellation Software, Tse says, whose annual general shareholders' meeting on Friday reassured investors about the company's AI strategy and its efforts to prevent its vertical-market businesses from being displaced by emerging technologies. Gainers in the sector include Constellation Software, Thomson Reuters, Descartes Systems, CGI and 5N Plus. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1217 ET - Constellation Software's AI opportunities outweigh its risks, says RBC's Paul Treiber. In a report, the analyst says Constellation's managers are banking on productivity gains from AI driving faster product innovation, which should help the company tap into the large opportunity to sell more to its customer base. So far, Treiber says Constellation hasn't experienced churn due to AI, and that the company would like AI innovations to fuel higher organic growth. "Feedback suggests that Constellation's managers are less concerned about potential new AI competitors or customers leveraging AI internally," he says. Constellation Software surges 9% to C$2,848.59.(adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1051 ET - Since rising to over $2,400 earlier this month, ethereum is off 12% and stands at $2,118 today. Driving the sell-off are ETFs pulling back from ether, with money flow net negative in ETFs for six consecutive days, according to data from CoinGlass. Some analysts say it could be the sign of a prolonged downtrend, according to CryptoQuant in a note. "For bullish momentum to recover, the market would likely need to see aggressive sell volume cool down while price stabilizes above key support levels," says the firm. Ethereum is essentially flat today, as is bitcoin at $76,839. XRP is down 0.6% to $1.37, solana falls 0.3% to $84.58, and cardano is down 0.7% to 24.97 cents. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0856 ET - Dominion Energy Chief Executive Robert Blue says on CNBC that the power industry needs to better communicate with customers and communities on data center projects. "Any energy infrastructure, frankly any infrastructure causes folks who are impacted by it to have a reaction," he says. "The appropriate way to go about it is to communicate with people early, to be honest with them, straightforward with them," he says. "We need to step up our game in terms of communicating with communities. I think we're seeing that more and more across the industry." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 19, 2026 16:50 ET (20:50 GMT)
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