The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
2030 ET - Sigma Healthcare's flirtation with an acquisition of the Boots pharmacy chain in the U.K. hinges a lot on the outlook for the business, suggests Macquarie. As a product category, health and beauty have tailwinds. A deal could also boost Sigma's EPS by 2%. Macquarie contends. Still, it says "key to an attractive deal is ability to unlock other value." This could include a look at Boots's business structure, including potential for a franchise offering. Also, the efficacy of Sigma's existing Chemist Warehouse format and the broader outlook in the U.K. "Getting comfort on these or other potential initiatives would be critical in deal attractiveness, if progressed," says Macquarie, which rates Sigma at outperform. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
2022 ET - Wesfarmers's share price has held up well relative to other discretionary retailers since January, and this has changed Macquarie's view of the stock. "With lack of valuation support and no near-term catalyst driving additional earnings upside, we downgrade to neutral," from outperform, says Macquarie. Wesfarmers held its investor day on Wednesday. Macquarie was impressed, noting the quality of its businesses and strategy was in evidence again. It expects Bunnings and Kmart will continue to drive returns for the group. It also highlights positive signals in Wesfarmers's heath and lithium businesses. Wesfarmers is down 0.3% at A$83.15, versus Macquarie's A$85.00/share price target. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
2017 ET - Japanese stocks are lower, weighed by renewed fears about the Iran conflict and higher energy costs. Tech and machinery stocks are leading the declines. SoftBank Group is down 6.7% and IHI is 7.4% lower. The dollar is at 160.50 yen, compared with Y160.37 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching developments in the Middle East after the U.S. began a fresh wave of attacks on Iran. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 2.7% at 62472.10. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)
1958 ET - Australian stocks look set to fall at the open after U.S. equities tumbled amid inflation fears and clashes in the Middle East. ASX futures are down by more than 0.8% ahead of Thursday's session, suggesting that Australia's S&P/ASX 200 benchmark index will give back its 0.6% prior-session gain. With the U.S. CPI hitting a three-year high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst day since October, losing 1.9%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.0% and the S&P 500 shed 1.6%. Ahead of the ASX open, Westpac bank said average monthly mortgage applications were down by about 18% since late 2025 amid economic uncertainty and proposed changes to the tax system. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1947 ET - Nintendo may find meaningful operating profit growth, one that exceeds guidance, harder to achieve this fiscal year without a tent-pole Mario game, according to Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal. With no 3D Mario game in the 2026 pipeline to offset an estimated 100 billion yen memory cost headwind, nor a visible catalyst to close that gap in the next two quarters, the stock's recovery toward late-2025 levels will likely be deferred, Goyal writes. He notes that while the timeline has been extended by roughly one fiscal year, Nintendo's thesis remains intact. Jefferies maintains a buy rating on the stock and is reviewing its estimates pending a management follow-up. Shares last ended 6.8% lower at Y7,215. (farah.elias@wsj.com)
1938 ET - Japanese stocks are likely to fall due to renewed concerns about the Iran conflict and higher energy prices. Nikkei futures are down 1.9% at 63080 on the SGX. The dollar is at 160.53 yen, compared with Y160.37 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on developments in the Middle East following a fresh wave of attacks by the U.S. on Iran. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.9% to 64179.27 on Wednesday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)
1919 ET - For Jefferies, one takeaway from Wesfarmers's strategy day was management's confidence in the outlook for the Bunnings home-improvement chain. That's despite a deteriorating macro outlook and recent tax changes affecting the housing industry. Analyst Michael Simotas says management's confidence reflects Bunnings's expansion of certain categories, such as workwear and camping, and growth in its store-network. Bunnings also plans to expand its range of major appliances in the next 12 to 18 months. That could impact JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and especially The Good Guys. "Appliances contribute meaningful sales for U.S. home improvement peers (8-15%)," Jefferies says. "Similar penetration would imply circa A$2 billion sales for Bunnings, but this would not happen quickly." It retains a hold call on Wesfarmers. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1848 ET - The nature of Oracle's contracts helps insulate the company from inflation in component costs, especially rising costs from the shortage of memory technology, co-CEO Mike Sicilia says on an analyst call. The company signs fixed-price contracts when it has certainty, either from existing capacity or locked component prices. Otherwise, he says, it signs floating contracts when component costs seem variable. "When the costs do go up, we have, I think, a very robust set of mechanisms that ensure that Oracle is not sitting there with reduced margins," he says. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1841 ET - Oracle will implement outcome-based pricing across its business, continuing a trend of software companies moving away from seat-based subscription pricing to models better-suited for artificial-intelligence tools. "We're also introducing outcome-based commercial models that align pricing directly to the value derived," co-CEO Clay Magouyrk tells analysts. CFO Hillary Maxson adds that the move will help customers evaluate the returns on their AI spending. It's "early days," she says, but the new models are "certainly resonating very, very well with our customers. They appreciate the transparency." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1638 ET - Oracle says it expects to raise less capital to fund its artificial-intelligence infrastructure buildout as large AI clients come to the company willing to prepay for GPUs or provide their own. The company reports remaining performance obligations of $638 billion, up $85 billion from the previous quarter with much of the increase coming from customers with prepaid or presupplied GPUs. "The prepaid and customer supplied hardware portions of our large AI contracts now total $75 billion," the company says. "This substantially reduces the amount of capital Oracle must raise to build out our AI datacenters." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1633 ET - Oracle says its Oracle Health business will begin growing at a double-digit rate in the current fiscal year, boosted by artificial intelligence. "The Oracle Health application suite will soon include a completely new AI version of the Cerner hospital and clinic patient care management system," the company says in its fourth-quarter earnings report, adding that "this is just the beginning of the expansion of the Oracle Health business." The company says its healthcare AI work will accelerate drug-discovery research and regulatory reviews of clinical trials, adding that doctors can use AI to offload administrative work and spend more time with patients. "We believe AI is about to completely revolutionize healthcare," Oracle says. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1607 ET - U.S. stocks fall sharply as May CPI comes in at a 3-year high of 4.2%, while President Trump promises more attacks against Iran following the downing of an American helicopter. Inflation is being driven by higher energy costs and oil prices rise again on the heightened tensions. Consumer staples show surprising strength, led by a 20% rise in shares of Casey's General Store after it posted strong quarterly results. Industrials and materials sectors perform the worst. DJIA slides 953 points, or 1.9%, to 49918, the S&P 500 loses 1.6% to 7266 and the Nasdaq slumps 2% to 25169. (patrick.sullivan@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 10, 2026 20:30 ET (00:30 GMT)
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