The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

1126 ET -- Dubai leads most major Gulf stocks lower as escalating U.S.-Iran hostilities and attacks on Saudi Arabia keep regional risks elevated. The Dubai Financial Market General Index falls 0.4%, Qatar's QE Index declines 0.3% and Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index edges down 0.1%. Abu Dhabi's benchmark index bucks the trend, edging up 0.1%, with major constituent ADNOC Gas rising 0.6%. Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz strengthens the case for ADNOC Gas to have export capacity on the U.A.E.'s east coast as the government considers ways to reduce reliance on the waterway, Barclays analyst Ramachandra Kamath says. (farhan.rafid@wsj.com)

1044 ET - Macy's says its shoppers have remained resilient, primarily in higher income cohorts. "Across nameplates, we continue to skew toward middle- and upper-income consumers, where performance remained stronger," Chief Executive Tony Spring says on a call with analysts. Lower-income consumers are more discerning about what they buy, which is in line with previous trends Macy's has reported, Spring says. The wealthier shoppers are responding to Macy's new assortment of products, which includes higher quality materials and more expensive brands, he says.(katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1040 ET - At the ECB's press conference, President Christine Lagarde didn't take opportunities to push back against elevated market expectations for interest rates and set a higher bar for further tightening, Pantheon Macroeconomics' Claus Vistesen says in a note. When asked whether 2.5% represents the upper end of neutral, Lagarde noted that the neutral rate is of "no great importance". "We now think the ECB will shift its policy rate more decisively into restrictive territory over the next six months," Vistesen says. He now expects a rate hike in December and another in February, before two cuts in September and December 2027. That effectively validates the market-implied path between now and March, but also that expectations for the end of 2027 remain much too high, he adds. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)

1038 ET - European energy producers and insurance companies are likely to benefit due to the elevated energy prices and the European Central Bank decision to increase interest rates, eToro's Lale Akoner says in a note. The ECB raised the deposit rate to 2.5% during Thursday's policy decision, as markets expected. Sectors that could be negatively affected by the rate increase include property, housebuilders, smaller companies, and retailers, she says. "Banks may benefit initially from wider lending margins, but that advantage will fade if loan demand weakens and defaults rise." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1036 ET - Canadian grocer Empire's F1Q food sales came in a little soft as shoppers looked elsewhere for discounts in a challenging consumer environment. TD Cowen analyst Brian Morrison says the Sobeys parent's food same-store sales growth came in at 1.2%, below rival Loblaw's 1.8%. The analyst chalks it up to "modest share loss as consumer health remains a headwind given high fuel prices and uncertainty around tariffs/counter-tariffs." He says that this dynamic is likely pushing more consumers to the discount channel, where Empire is under-represented. He says that while management remains on track to deliver earnings growth near the high end of its algorithm, "underlying Retail growth remains modest." Empire is down 1% to C$47.37. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1030 ET - Macy's is staying relatively conservative with its outlook for same-store sales. The retailer raised guidance for same-store sales to grow 1% to 1.5%, up from its previous outlook of 0.5% to 1.2% growth. This guidance comes after Macy's had roughly 3% growth in the first two quarters of the year. The same-store sales metric was higher in the second half of last year, so the company will have to grow from a higher baseline in the next two quarters, executives tell analysts on a call. Staying prudent with the guidance will also give the company more room to deal with macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, management says.(katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1023 ET - Macy's has seen a slowdown in the share of shoppers who complete a purchase in their stores, as the company is putting pricier items on its shelf. Executives say on a call with analysts that conversion was lower in the second quarter, despite higher average unit revenue and greater traffic in stores. Macy's data shows that shoppers sometimes visit two or three times before buying an item because they deliberate more over buying a pricier item, the executives say. Macy's average selling prices have increased, as the company is bringing in higher-end products and previously raised prices following tariffs. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1015 ET - Homebuying costs have hit their highest level in over a year, Redfin says. The typical U.S. homebuyer's monthly mortgage payment reached a 14-month high of $2,641. That's partly because the median home-sale price rose 2.2% year over year, and partly because the weekly average mortgage rate increased to 6.71%. Elevated costs are keeping some would-be buyers on the sidelines. Pending home sales were essentially flat from a week earlier, sitting near their lowest level since February. Buyers have negotiating power in most of the country, but for many house hunters, that isn't enough to offset high costs. Sellers are listing their homes because they want to sell before prices decline, life circumstances are prompting them to move, and the lock-in effect is easing. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1011 ET - An interest rate increase by the European Central Bank in December looks plausible, eToro's Lale Akoner says in a note. The ECB raised the key rate to 2.5% at Thursday's rate decision, as widely expected, marking its second rate hike in 2026. Nonetheless, markets' expectations of four potential ECB rate increases this year appears excessive, Akoner says. "Europe has yet to see a convincing wage-price spiral" to justify four ECB rate rises in 2026, she says. Investors fully price in one more quarter-point rate hike by December, and a 24% chance of an additional rate increase by year end, LSEG data show. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1006 ET - Groupe Dynamite delivered a strong "beat-and-raise" performance in 2Q, topping forecasts across revenue, margins and earnings. TD Cowen's Brian Morrison notes that revenue rose 30%, 5% ahead of TD's forecasts, driven by same-store sales growth of 10.3%, better-than-expected contributions from new stores and continued ecommerce momentum. Profitability also drove the outperformance, with adjusted Ebitda margin expanding 740 basis points to 44.3%. That margin expansion was fueled by a 525-basis-point gross margin gain as the company lapped elevated tariffs and realized operational efficiencies at its U.S. distribution center. "We expect investor focus to remain on the cadence of SSSG through H2/F26, though current trends appear supportive of management's full-year outlook," Morrison says. Shares are up 9.9% to C$62.39. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1004 ET - The European Central Bank's interest-rate hike to 2.5% was "unavoidable" with inflation in the eurozone currently above 3%, president of Germany's Ifo Institute Clemens Fuest says. Given that the economy remains quite weak, the rate increase comes at an inopportune time for Germany, he says. However, with core inflation--an underlying measure that strips out more volatile energy and food costs--also well above 2%, the ECB had no choice but to act, he adds. Headline inflation in the eurozone was 3.3% in August, while it was 2.9% in Germany. Risks remain to the upside for inflation, the ECB said. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)

1001 ET - The U.K. aviation system has stabilized significantly, analytics company Cirium says, after an outage at the country's air-traffic-control systems grounded hundreds of flights earlier in the week. Of the 3,028 flight arrivals scheduled at U.K. airports on Thursday, 54 have been canceled or aren't operating, according to Cirium. For departures, 47 flights out of a total of 3,033 are affected, Cirium says. This is slightly higher than on a normal day, the aviation-analytics firm says.