The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
2059 ET - Pinnacle Investment Management's underlying momentum seems intact and the recent pullback in its share price is seen by its new bulls as a buying opportunity. Raising their recommendation on the Australia-listed stock to buy from neutral, UBS analysts tell clients in a note that valuation looks attractive at 12.7 times fiscal 2028 earnings, which represents a 40% relative discount to its historical multiple. They acknowledge some risk from changed valuation assumptions at the listed vehicles managed by private lender Metrics, which is 35% owned by Pinnacle, but believe that any impact has been more than priced in. UBS trims its target price 5.6% to 17.00 Australian dollars. Shares are up 8.4% at A$14.01. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
2025 ET - Japanese stocks are lower in early trade as uncertainty about the Iran conflict and higher borrowing costs continues. Auto, steel and financial stocks are leading declines. Toyota Motor is down 2.6%, Nippon Steel is 3.3% lower and Nomura Holdings is down 2.8%. The dollar is at 157.45 yen, compared with Y157.63 as of Monday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching developments in the Middle East, oil prices and bond yields. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 0.8% at 65373.77. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)
1945 ET - Australian stocks look set to edge higher as investors wait on what is widely expected to be a resumption of interest-rate rises by the country's central bank. ASX futures are up by less than 0.1% ahead of Tuesday's session, suggesting that the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark index could lightly add to its week-opening 0.2% rise. Economists and traders expect the Reserve Bank to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points later Tuesday. Ahead of the open, REA Group said it had agreed to buy a 35% stake in an Ireland-based counterpart. Cochlear said it would defend a class action representing shareholders aggrieved at its profit forecasting over its last fiscal year. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1941 ET - Japanese stocks mighty remain rangebound as uncertainties about the Iran conflict and higher borrowing costs continue. Nikkei futures are up 0.1% at 65795 on the SGX. The dollar is at 157.37 yen, compared with Y157.63 as of Monday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on developments in the Middle East, oil prices and bond yields. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7% to 65877.62 on Monday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)
1901 ET -- Retailers in the U.K. have maintained promotions and reduced prices to help drive demand, keeping inflation lower than a year ago, according to a report by the British Retail Consortium and Nielsen IQ. For the period from Sept. 1 to Sept. 7, shop price inflation dropped to 1.4% compared with 1.5% in August. "Retailers have absorbed wave after wave of extra costs, but there is a limit to what businesses can shoulder," BRC's chief executive, Helen Dickinson, says. These include rising employment costs, energy bills and packaging taxes, she adds. The retail sector will still need to absorb cost increases wherever possible, as household budgets will get tighter in the final quarter of the year, the report says. (andrea.figueras@wsj.com)
1721 ET - AMD's $8.2 billion acquisition of World Labs, a developer of spatially intelligent AI models, speaks to Silicon Valley's growing interest in robotics and applying AI to the physical world. Nvidia is making specialized chips for physical AI and has projected that its physical AI revenue will grow tenfold over the next decade. Elon Musk's Tesla is hard at work developing a fleet of humanoid Optimus robots. And Amazon, which is already among the world's biggest makers of robots, has said it plans to build two new robotics hubs in Indiana and Texas. "As AI expands into reasoning, robotics, simulation and physical AI, the demands on compute infrastructure become more diverse," AMD says in its announcement of the World Labs deal. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1719 ET - Vail Resorts highlights recent executive changes in its latest quarterly report, as it faces pressure from an activist investor about its leadership team. Activist DKR Oasis Management earlier this month bought stake in Vail and said the company needed to reconstitute its board. "In addition to appointing a new CEO, we have brought on a new Chief Revenue Officer and a new independent board member with hospitality and operations expertise, with an ongoing search for a second director," Vail says. Vail's revenue chief started in January, while returning Chief Executive Rob Katz started in May 2025. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1704 ET - AMD uses its announcement of an $8.2 billion acquisition of World Labs to give a nod of support to open-source AI developers, saying the deal "advances AMD's strategy to deliver AI infrastructure for an open ecosystem." The company's chief executive, Lisa Su, has previously spoken in favor of open-source models, and AMD signed a July letter led by Nvidia supporting open models and opposing premature regulation. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1412 ET - AirBoss of America's new defense contracts from NATO allies validate the company's international expansion, says TD Cowen's Tim James, who adds that the deal highlights a disconnect between strong fundamentals and recent stock underperformance. The award includes a $12.5 million initial delivery and additional orders from several NATO partner nations valued at up to $4.4 million. James says that AirBoss has been among the few Canadian defence-exposed stocks to underperform over the past month, noting the 10% decline vs. 4% average gain for Canadian defence-exposed stocks. James thinks that the momentum can continue. "Additional contract awards from NATO nations should be positive for sentiment and provide a reminder to the equity market of the company's ability to capitalize on global defence spending opportunities," he says. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1407 ET - Bitcoin is down 0.8% to $83,904, coming down from around $87,000 last week. Bitcoin rose to its highest since late January, and has the legs to push even higher, says CK Zheng of ZX Squared Capital. "I believe Bitcoin's current four-year bear market cycle is near its end," says Zheng. "The cycle's bottom was mostly reached in June 2026." Heading into 2027, bitcoin is expected to continue its rebound - potentially reaching a new all-time high of $150,000 before the end of 2027. "Typically, Bitcoin performs extremely strongly during the first year of the cycle," says Zheng. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1302 ET - There are expansion and consolidation opportunities in the retirement income market as AI improves drug discovery and development and ultimately boosts life expectancy, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. "As individuals spend more years preparing for and living in retirement, we expect the retirement value chain to extend beyond accumulation toward solutions that combine investment management, sustainable income, longevity protection and advice," the analysts write. The current fragmented nature of the retirement income market creates room for innovation, partnerships, and consolidation as AI's impact on longevity becomes increasingly clear. They name BlackRock. Apollo, LPL Financial Holdings, and Raymond James as among the possible beneficiaries of this shift. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1300 ET - Life insurance providers should benefit from AI-fueled drug development improving overall life expectancy, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. "Given the current state of drug developments, scientific advances and other factors, we expect life expectancy in the US could improve faster than the historical average of 2 years every 10 years," the analysts write, adding that the trend should support earnings per share benefits for life insurers including Globe Life, RGA, Lincoln, MetLife, and Unum. "This is due to lower benefit ratio for various insurers into the outer years as mortality and longevity impacts become more visible," they write. Insurers with more exposure to morbidity and retirement could see a smaller tailwind, they add, as the expected improvement in longevity cuts both ways.
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