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

1255 ET - Volkswagen's restructuring plan is a potential game changer but the assumptions and targets seem demanding, Morgan Stanley analysts say in a note. Executing the plan--reducing capacity and cost, adding flexibility and speed to market--would make the analysts more positive on VW. "We see many low hanging fruit and think that VW has room to fund a good part of that restructuring via nonstrategic asset disposals," MS says. Nevertheless, right now some of the plan depends on potentially bumpy negotiations with unions, which could generate positive and negative news flow in the second half, according to MS. Volkswagen shares closed at 81.46 euros.(sarah.sloat@wsj.com)

1247 ET - Among the takeaways from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's calls this weekend to slow AI development was confirmation that Recursive Self Improvement, self-improving AI models, are being deployed across the industry, Melius Research analysts say in a research note. Amodei warned that the acceleration of RSI introduces a spate of new risks. But the admission is also a huge catalyst for compute demand, the analysts say. RSI runs on inference with thousands of agents constantly writing code, launching experiments and reading results, they say. Slowing upfront model training doesn't stop that loop, and arguably just redirects compute budgets elsewhere, the analysts say. "The models RSI produces are better and cheaper per token and every price cut in the last two months has been met with more consumption," they say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1239 ET - Investors in the AI trade shouldn't get hysterical about top AI company leaders calling for a development slowdown and more guardrails for the industry, Melius Research analysts say in a research note. The top AI CEOs have been endorsing a slowdown for several years already, and most AI leaders have thought the space was bound for regulation anyway, they say. If anything, Anthropic and OpenAI are the companies that can benefit most from a regulatory framework that creates a predictable playing field for the most well-resourced and advanced companies, the analysts say. "It can be morally right and advantageous at the same time," they say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1225 ET - D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria accuses leading AI labs OpenAI and Anthropic of engaging in "coordinated cartel behavior" to consolidate their power and hobble competitors following their leaders' calls to slow the development of AI capabilities. The cybersecurity risk of AI improvement "is being exploited by an unholy alliance of Anthropic, OpenAI and degrowth politicians trying to scare citizens and governments into allowing them to seize more power," Luria writes in a note. "Anthropic and OpenAI are trying to pull the ladder and prevent competitors from catching up." Their goal, as Luria sees it, is to implement a regulatory framework on the labs' terms that disproportionately impacts smaller competitors with fewer compliance resources. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1213 ET - Renault's exposure to a strong European market makes it the biggest beneficiary of potential regulatory protection, Morgan Stanley analysts say in a note. Renault is unlikely to sustain the market share growth it saw last year amid competition with Chinese carmakers but that doesn't rule out positive volume growth, MS says. That is because the French carmaker is the most exposed company to European pent-up demand, which has further room to recover, MS says. Chinese competition is a concern long term but it brings incentives to adjust costs and capacity, the analysts say. MS upgrades Renault to equalweight from underweight, and raises the target to 31 euros from 25 euros. Shares closed at 29.36 euros. (sarah.sloat@wsj.com)

1206 ET - Thomson Reuters' share price divergence creates opportunity, says TD Cowen's Vince Valentini. The analyst says in a report that TRI shares have been under pressure since July 2025, "declining approximately 54% from their all-time high despite consistently delivering strong operating results." He notes that guidance continues to trend higher, with management expecting organic revenue growth of 7.5%-8% in 2026, up from 7%-7.5% in 2025. Also, following 2Q, target outlook was raised 50 basis points to 8% "for the total company and to 9.5%-10.0% for the Big Three segments, from approximately 9.5% previously." With the shares down about 40% over the last 52 weeks at C$145.13, Valentini says "the current valuation increasingly understates the company's attractive long-term growth and margin outlook." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1145 ET - Sam Altman has confirmed that OpenAI won't go public until next year, but that's been the sentiment for some time now, Neostellar Capital's Evan Schlossman says in a note. Altman's statements are tied to he and Elon Musk supporting Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow down AI development over safety concerns. The company just raised $122 billion, showcasing how much demand they've still got in the private markets, Schlossman says. Clearly OpenAI isn't facing any pressure to run to the public markets, and will go public whenever its most advantageous to the business, he says. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1137 ET - Leaders of the top AI companies in the U.S. are in rare agreement that they need to slow development of the technology, but a major slowdown is unlikely while China is in the race, Giuseppe Sette co-founder and president of investment research platform Reflexivity says in a note. Clearly something happened that was big enough to force a unified stance between Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, Sette says. And it was probably stopped at the last minute before disaster struck, he adds. But any retracement in AI stocks from the truce between the U.S. leaders is "simply a buying opportunity," Sette says. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1104 ET - AstraZeneca just suffered its third failure of a late-stage clinical trial in less than three months, but it can overcome these setbacks, Bernstein analysts say in a research note. The negative results of its Etcamah breast-cancer drug add to earlier disappointing results for its Wainua drug in a heart-disease trial and for lung-cancer drug candidate volrustomig.Swiss rival Roche was also hit by three late-stage trial failures in 2022 and its stock underperformed European peers until the fourth quarter of 2025, but AstraZeneca doesn't have to follow the same fate, Bernstein says. AstraZeneca's late-stage drug pipeline looks fuller than Roche's was back then, and the majority of its studies with results due next year should face low risk, the analysts say. AstraZeneca shares rise 3.1%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1057 ET - New home construction is starting to slow, Zillow says. Completion of detached single-family homes fell for the third straight year in 2025, and the pace of permitting is slipping further below its pre-pandemic trend line. The concern is that a thinner pipeline could deepen an already significant housing shortage at a time when affordability is already stretched thin. Over the 12 months ending July 2026, more than 1.42 million residential building permits were issued nationwide, down 1.7% from the same period a year earlier. Compared with the pre-pandemic trajectory from 2016 through 2020, permitting is running 19.4% below where it would have been if that trend had held. Permitting has fallen year over year for 44 consecutive months. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1056 ET - AstraZeneca's Etcamah breast-cancer drug failed a clinical trial in advanced breast cancer, but this doesn't mean investors should count out another study for the same medicine at an earlier stage of the disease, Citi analysts say. The market had been largely expecting a failure given the similarity between the Etcamah trial and a separate study of Roche's giredestrant drug that missed its objective earlier this year, the analysts say in a note. Just like Roche's giredestrant, the medicine from the U.K. drugmaker could still hit the objective in a trial for early breast cancer, the analysts add. AstraZeneca is expected to publish results from the early-breast-cancer study in the second half of 2027, according to Citi. Shares in AstraZeneca rise 3%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1054 ET - The leading U.S. AI labs may agree to the first step of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's plan to "pace" the AI frontier, letting independent evaluators embed in the labs' research. But don't hold your breath for his ultimate goal of global coordination between both democratic and non-democratic countries, namely China, Truist analysts say in a note. "We view participation from Chinese labs as essential for adequate pacing," they say but add that they "do not expect material international alignment in the near future." Ultimately, the analysts don't think "US frontier labs will pause and allow Chinese labs to take the lead."