The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1946 ET - Japanese stocks may remain rangebound amid uncertainty over a possible U.S.-Iran peace deal and following the stock benchmark index's ascent to a record high on Monday. Nikkei futures are up 0.1% at 65260 on the SGX. The dollar is at 158.96 yen, compared with Y158.91 as of Monday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on any developments in the Middle East after progress toward a deal to end the war with Iran slowed. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.9% to an all-time closing high of 65158.19 on Monday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)
1945 ET - Infratil's share price falls 3.9% to 15.35 New Zealand dollars following its annual result, cooling a rally that had seen the stock rise more than 40% since the start of last month. Citi had anticipated the shares would be weaker Tuesday as Infratil's FY27 earnings guidance missed consensus hopes by some 13%. Citi estimates Infratil's guidance is equivalent to NZ$1.055 billion-NZ$1.120 billion of Ebitda. Analyst Suraj Nebhani says lower forecast earnings in telecom business OneNZ and Infratil's radiology businesses help to explain the guidance miss. Infratil also signaled higher corporate costs and development spending. Citi had a buy call and NZ$15.70/share price target on Infratil ahead of the FY26 result. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1928 ET - Superloop's bull at Macquarie thinks that the Australian broadband provider could outline some longer-term targets at its investor day next month. A note from one of the investment bank's analysts points out that Superloop's chief financial officer already publicly mentioned the potential for the challenger to double its market share over the next three to five years. Achieving this target could generate 50% upside to Macquarie's current FY 2030 profit forecast, the note says. The analyst adds that Superloop's pricing means it could pass on network access cost increases to its customers and still be cheaper than market leader Telstra. Macquarie keeps an outperform rating and A$3.50 target price on the stock, which is at A$3.47 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1926 ET - Amplitude Energy's East Coast Supply Project had become less certain after recent drilling failures. But a deal to buy the Artisan natural-gas field has shored up concerns. Amplitude is buying Artisan from Beach Energy for A$58.3 million upfront and a production royalty. Macquarie said the ECSP, and specifically volumes to feed the Athena gas plant, had increasingly become dependent on exploration success. "Artisan transaction mitigates this substantially," Macquarie says. Other benefits to Amplitude include an ability to blend Artisan gas with volumes from the Annie field to bring carbon-dioxide levels within a range required by pipelines. The Artisan field is also only 10 miles or so to Amplitude's existing pipeline infrastructure, Macquarie has an outperform call on Amplitude. Its price target rises 7.1% to A$3.00/share. Amplitude ended Monday at A$1.715. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1914 ET - Beach Energy's sale of the Artisan natural-gas discovery to Amplitude Energy is a sensible win-win deal, says Macquarie. That's rare in the oil and gas sector. Beach is prioritizing value over volume, Macquarie says. Benefits of the deal to Beach go beyond the A$130 million post-tax deal value. "This transaction allows Beach to divest a capex-intensive asset to a party that can achieve stronger returns," Macquarie says. Capital that would have been allocated to the Otway basin, including drilling the La Bella 2 well, can now be used on acquisitions. Macquarie raises its price target by 13% to A$0.88/share, although it retains an underperform call. Beach ended Monday at A$1.115. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1831 ET - Australia's S&P/ASX 200 looks set to rise in early trade after oil prices retreated amid continuing U.S.-Iran peace talks. ASX futures are up by 0.3% ahead of Tuesday's open, suggesting the benchmark index will add to its week-opening 0.4% rise. With hopes growing of a resolution to the nearly three-monthlong Iran conflict, the ASX 200 has added 2.3% across three straight gains to rally from its lowest level since late March. Ahead of the open, Mineral Resources approved a flotation plant and underground development with Ganfeng likely to require capex of A$490 million from the Australian miner. With U.S. markets closed for the Memorial Day holiday, European indices provided a positive lead. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1237 ET - Computer Modelling Group delivered a solid fourth quarter, showing the first return to organic recurring revenue growth after a period of weakness, but CIBC's Erin Kyle says that the energy software company is still in transition. Guidance for fiscal 2027 calls for flat organic recurring revenue and flat Ebitda, as the company continues shifting away from low-margin services and invests in new products and M&A capabilities. This should clear up in the medium-term, however, thanks to a "constructive" oil-price environment. "The company could benefit over the medium-term as more countries look to increase oil production through new exploration or by revisiting older assets." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1201 ET - Crude prices have failed to push significantly higher since the war in Iran began largely because China has reduced its imports, effectively freeing up supply for other buyers, says Michelle Brouhard from Kpler. China, she says, is highly opportunistic: When prices rise too far, it reduces imports, draws down inventories, and waits for cheaper levels. "China has took its foot off at the gas on imports," the head of policy and geopolitical risk says. "So I think these prices just got high enough that they thought we'll just draw down our inventories." According to Brouhard, based on current global inventory levels, the fair value for oil would be much higher, around $130-$140 a barrel. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
1141 ET - Lightspeed Commerce's guidance came in soft overall, but CIBC's Todd Coupland says there are some positives. The analyst says that after an in-line fourth quarter, investors focused on the softer first quarter outlook for fiscal 2027. However, fiscal 2028 targets for gross profit, Ebitda margin, and free cash flow moved above consensus expectations. "The more important takeaway is that the medium-term setup improved," he says. Moreover, the ecommerce and point-of-sale software provider's portfolio is cleaner after the divestiture of Upserve, and growth engines now account for 75% of revenue--which could reach 80% by the end of fiscal 2027, Coupland adds. "The turnaround still needs to be proven through execution." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1103 ET - The U.K. has experienced the biggest repricing in interest-rate expectations among major G-10 economies since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, SEB says in a note. The U.K. has seen a net increase in Bank of England interest-rate expectations of 106 basis points since February 27, data from SEB show. This compares with a rise of 78 basis points for the U.S., 69 basis points for the eurozone, and 70 basis points for Norway. U.K. money markets currently price in 48 basis points of rate increases in 2026, LSEG data show. Prior to the Iran war, markets had priced in at least two rate cuts over the course of the year. (jessica.fleetham@wsj.com)
1043 ET - Oil prices have only limited room to fall until the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens and tanker traffic resumes. "There's no way to have a drop in prices if the strait is not open," says Michelle Brouhard, head of policy and geopolitical risk at Kpler. "You need boats that actually go back into the strait to pick up cargo to take it back out…You need the round trip of the strait reopened." An agreement to reopen the waterway could bring Brent crude into the $85-$90 a barrel range, though prices are unlikely to fall below $80 a barrel, she says. Inventory losses and roughly 1 billion barrels of missed Middle East production continue to underpin prices, and once the strait reopens, inventories will still need to be replenished. "There's still going to be some sort of geopolitical risk that needs to remain in the price," Brouhard says. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
1035 ET - Celestica's guidance for the next two years is likely leaning on the conservative side, according to Todd Coupland of CIBC. "Celestica's message at CIBC's Technology & Innovation Conference sharpened our conviction that 2026 and 2027 guidance likely remains too low," the analyst says. He points to strong demand from hyperscalers and digital-native customers that is running ahead of the Toronto-based company's expectations. He says that visibility now stretches out to 2029, and the only real bottleneck is extreme component shortages, with some lead times hitting 99 weeks, even worse than during the pandemic. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2026 19:46 ET (23:46 GMT)
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