The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day. Meta Platforms left the high end of its capital-expenditure range for the year unchanged at $145 billion. "Meta's Capital-Expenditure Plans Disappoint AI Investors -- Market Talk," at 0950 GMT, incorrectly said the high end was $140 billion.
0908 ET - Sales in Lockheed Martin's missile and fire control segment gained 24% in 3Q, marking the strongest growth among the defense contractor's four segments. Lockheed says the increase was due to higher sales of its integrated air and missile defense programs, driven by production ramps for its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 [PAC-3]and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] systems. Higher sales for its tactical and strike missile programs also contributed.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
0859 ET - Lockheed Martin recorded higher sales for its F-35 jet fighters in 3Q due to a rise in production volume and sustainment contracts. The growth helped the defense contractor's aeronautics segment notch a 13% sales increase. The stealth fighter has already been called the world's most expensive weapon, with a projected $2 trillion cost to buy, operate and maintain over its lifetime. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
0850 ET - Pentagon leaders pledge to buy F-35 jet fighters from Lockheed Martin over the next 10 years, a move that would eliminate the annual contracting cycle for the program. The move marks the longest commitment among recent Trump administration efforts to set suppliers on a wartime footing. Lockheed says the multiyear framework would allow it to make the upfront investments needed to expand capacity for its F-35 business. "That's good for the taxpayer, good for our suppliers and, most importantly, good for the United States and its allies," Chief Executive Jim Taiclet says. Lockheed Martin up 4.3% premarket. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
0845 ET - Aberdeen Group's third-quarter assets under management and administration figure was weighed by weak markets and group flows, UBS analysts write. The figure was 0.8% below consensus expectations at 578.9 billion pounds, mostly driven by softer markets, UBS says. As a result, the Swiss bank lowers its 2026 to 2028 earnings per share estimates by between 2% and 4%. The cut is entirely from revenue, the analysts say, which it lowers by 1% per year to reflect the third-quarter miss. Aberdeen's Interactive Investor is still adding customers, but daily average trades and cash balances missed expectations, UBS notes. Adviser outflows continued for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, but UBS expects inflows to resume in 2028. Shares are down 2.7%. (michael.hennessey@wsj.com)
0833 ET - The major defense contractors' backlogs are growing as governments ramp up military spending. Lockheed Martin says its backlog grew 27% since 2Q to $291.98 billion in 3Q, notching a fresh record. RTX and Northrop Grumman earlier this week also reported record backlogs, of about $340 billion and $109.6 billion, respectively. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
0749 ET - Sterling is at risk of falling given excessive U.K. interest-rate rise expectations and potential market jitters ahead of next week's U.K. budget, Monex Europe analysts say in a note. A rate rise at the Bank of England's November meeting appears a done deal after Wednesday's higher-than-expected U.K. inflation data, they say. But with swaps pricing more than 100 basis points of tightening over the next year, the "curve has got ahead of itself." Near-term sterling risks should skew to the downside as budget speculation builds in coming days, they say. Sterling falls 0.2% to $1.3368 after reaching a five-week high of $1.3418 earlier, LSEG data show. The euro falls 0.1% to 0.8377 pounds after hitting a near 17-month low of 0.8370 pounds Wednesday. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
0724 ET - The risks to Spanish banks from artificial intelligence-enabled deposit sweeping appears manageable in the short to medium term, Citi analysts write. AI agents could automatically and continuously move cash from low-interest accounts into higher-yielding products, analysts say. Deposit resilience is likely to depend on franchise strength and primary banking relationships in Spain, Citi says, with BBVA and CaixaBank standing out. "Overall, we believe the risk to covered banks appears manageable in the short to medium term, although resilience is unlikely to be uniform across institutions," the analysts add. (michael.hennessey@wsj.com)
0647 ET - Sea Cloud is likely to break-even in three to four years, DBS Group Research analyst Sachin Mittal says in a note. Alibaba Cloud took around 12 years to post its first adjusted Ebita profit, but Sea's timeline could be faster given its existing infrastructure and in-house demand, Mittal says. DBS estimates around $200 million to $400 million of annual losses from the cloud segment, "with bulk of the cost being depreciation of an estimated $400 million to $500 million AI infrastructure capex on five years and staff costs of 500 employees," Mittal adds. The analyst awaits more details from 3Q earnings regarding its capex disclosure and Monee's IPO timing. (kimberley.kao@wsj.com)
0645 ET - Roche Holding's late-stage pipeline includes some overlooked medicines and the Swiss drugmaker looks set to have a busy 2027 with clinical updates, analysts at Bank of America say in a research note. The company's third-quarter update offered a peek at clinical-trial results due next year, which include late-stage studies for inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis, hemophilia A and lymphoma. Those medicines could add to a pipeline of new medicines that the company aims to launch over the next year, with breast-cancer drug giredestrant as its key asset, according to Bank of America. But multiple-sclerosis drug fenebrutinib and lung-cancer medicine divarasib are overlooked opportunities that might eclipse any debate on Roche's base business, the analysts say. Shares fall 0.3%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)
0633 ET - Renk could use proceeds from the sale of its slide bearings business for share buybacks or to make a bolt-on acquisition in unmanned systems, Mwb analyst Jens-Peter Rieck says in a research note. The latter would address a structural concern Mwb has regarding Renk, he says, pointing to the CEO's scheduled update on Dec. 8 as the main event to watch for more on strategy. Shares in the German defense company trade 1.1% lower at 36.88 euros. (sarah.sloat@wsj.com)
0631 ET - Tesla's earnings underwhelmed markets, with the group's core electric-vehicle business looking weak, AJ Bell's Russ Mould writes. Lower average sale prices in the face of fierce competition from China weighed on the vehicle business, Mould says. A lack of battery supplies meant the company also struggled to keep up with orders, the strategist says. However, the main Tesla-related story is unrelated the group's earnings, Mould says, with investors preoccupied by the company's potential merger with SpaceX. Shares fall 4.35% premarket amid a broader tech selloff.
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