The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
2014 ET - Japanese stocks are lower in early trade following overnight drops in U.S. technology stocks. Uncertainty over the Iran conflict is also weighing on the market. Chip and metals stocks are leading the declines. Advantest is down 8.0%, and Mitsui Kinzoku is 6.1% lower. The dollar is at 163.80 yen, compared with Y163.56 as of Monday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching crude oil prices and developments in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted drones that Iran-backed militias in Iraq had launched at the kingdom's oil facilities. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 2.6% at 63231.25. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)
1948 ET - Japanese stocks may decline amid uncertainty over the Iran conflict and following overnight drops in U.S. technology stocks. Nikkei futures are down 1.7% at 63930 on the SGX. The dollar is at 163.75 yen, compared with Y163.56 as of Monday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on crude oil prices and developments in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted drones that Iran-backed militias in Iraq had launched at the kingdom's oil facilities. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.5% to 64931.19 on Monday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)
1815 ET - Australian stocks look set to fall at the open, unwinding some of the gains made in their strong start to the week. Local equity futures are down by 0.2% ahead of Tuesday's session, suggesting that the S&P/ASX 200 will slip lower in early trade. The benchmark index jumped 1.4% Monday, recording its best day in more than six weeks against a backdrop of falling oil prices. Oil prices are lower again after President Trump paused a major escalation in the military conflict with Iran. U.S. stocks finished mixed as weakness in chip stocks weighed against optimism over the Middle East. The DJIA rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 was nearly flat, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1551 ET - Microsoft's recent underperformance creates a solid set-up with limited downside risk ahead of the company's fourth-quarter earnings UBS analysts write in a note. Still, though they maintain a buy rating, they cut Microsoft's price target to $480 from $510, citing the possibility that Microsoft will raise its capital expenditures outlook while reaffirming rather than raising its guidance for Azure -- a combination of high spending and limited revenue upside that markets seem reticent to reward. Beyond CapEx and ROI debates, Microsoft may face pressure around its exposure to OpenAI and risks of open-source model displacement, as well as skepticism of its flagship productivity software business. "Bottom line, we remain BUY-rated but are more tactically balanced into this print," the analysts write. Shares are up 2% at $389.50. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1405 ET - Shopify isn't at risk of losing out to "vibe-coding" according to an RBC note. While open-source ecommerce tools and website builders have been available for years, such as WooCommerce, which is the open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress, they haven't "reduced demand for Shopify, both from SMBs and larger enterprises," the analysts say. This is because "Shopify's pace of innovation, breadth of features, reliability, scalability, and extensibility are superior to free tools," according to the analysts. What's more, building software to replace Shopify would be too complex considering how quickly online commerce landscape is evolving, including "the requirement to integrate with third party software tools and enterprise systems and the need for payments processing." Shopify climbs 10% to C$177.21, but is still down 20% year-to-date. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1352 ET - As AI upends established industries, Piper Sandler is optimistic about companies that are building next-generation machines--like robotaxis, reusable rockets and humanoid robots--using in-house expertise. Analysts Alexander Potter and Ben Johnson point in particular to Rivian and Mobileye, whose vertically integrated models allow them to build next-generation models without relying on suppliers or supply chains that don't exist yet. The analysts upgrade both to overweight from neutral, and raise the price target to $20 from $18 for Rivian, and to $12 from $10 for Mobileye. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1342 ET - Investor sentiment around Bumble hinges largely on whether its planned app relaunch can successfully stabilize the business, Morgan Stanley analysts say, noting the company's stock is near an all-time low. The dating app has been looking to launch an overhauled app in 4Q in select markets, with plans to move away from the swipe model with a new approach that emphasizes closing the gap between digital and in-person connections, the analysts say. Still, given the relaunch isn't until later this year, the analysts say they don't expect much will change for investors' key debates around the stock heading into Bumble's quarterly results. Instead, the focus will be on specific products, timing and upside, they say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1317 ET - A survey by D.A. Davidson shows the cyclospora outbreak hasn't scared consumers off from chains like Cava, Chipotle and Sweetgreen. Produce-heavy restaurant stocks have fallen since the outbreak emerged and was linked to Taco Bell, but consumers seem less concerned than investors, analysts Matt Curtis and Andrew Tompkins say in a report. While 87% of respondents had heard of the outbreaks associated with restaurant food, nearly 80% said they were buying restaurant food as often or more often than a month earlier. Visits to Taco Bell appear to have slowed down the most, while Cava and Sweetgreen are performing better, suggesting the impact could be limited to Taco Bell, the analysts say. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1306 ET - Morgan Stanley analysts say they are keeping a watchful eye on two of Match Group's newer offerings over the second half of the year. Tinder, Match's biggest dating app, is set to test a video speed dating feature, adding a new mechanism to engage users alongside swiping, the analysts say. Meanwhile, in-person events could help boost monetization and brand perception in local markets, however, it's unclear how quickly the company can scale up the offering, they say. The analysts say they're also watching for new product announcements during Match's quarterly earnings report, given the company has suggested it would take some bigger swings in the back half of the year. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1256 ET - The expanded partnership between AT&T and D-Wave Quantum should further reduce customer downtime, D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz tells CNBC. The partnership is building on AT&T's success using D-Wave's quantum computing power to optimize responses to network outages, which cut down AT&T's computation time from more than an hour to less than 15 seconds. The partnership also covers using quantum computing in concert with AT&T's AI agents, a push toward the long-held goal of combining the two frontier technologies. "From their perspective, leveraging their AI technology today, they've seen a dramatic improvement in uptime," Baratz says. "And now, bringing quantum into the picture, the expectation is that that will be even better." D-Wave gains 17% to $18.95, while AT&T ticks up 1.1% to $24.37. Other quantum stocks rally as well. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1243 ET - The computing demand at the center of the AI boom isn't going to let up anytime soon, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note addressing a volatile month for tech stocks. They see compute demand remaining high long-term even as companies limit "tokenmaxxing" and turn to Chinese open-weight AI options, writing that the economics of AI usage are already attractive and improvement in model efficiency will drive demand even higher. "Given the recent market pullback affecting a range of AI Infrastructure stocks, we believe this point in time represents an unusually attractive buying opportunity," the analysts write, suggesting investments in data-center energy systems, Chinese AI solutions, hyperscalers, and the compute manufacturing ecosystem. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1240 ET - The $1.25 billion that Expand Energy has agreed to pay for marketing concern Twin Eagle in its bid to become fully integrated across the natural gas supply chain looks appropriate for such businesses, Neal Dingmann and Bert Donnes of William Blair say in a note. But "while we understand the strategy behind today's acquisition, paying over a billion dollars for anything with minimal assets is tough to incorporate into our model versus organically growing such a business." Expand's integration strategy could become even more costly if the company is able to add midstream assets, they add. Expand shares are off 0.2%. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 27, 2026 20:14 ET (00:14 GMT)
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