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

1128 GMT - WPP CFO Joanne Wilson's decision to step down to join Diageo might have come as a surprise at the U.K. advertising group, Bernstein analysts say. Wilson--who joined WPP in 2023--has a 12-month notice period and will stay in her current role until a successor has been appointed, the company said. WPP will probably want to be well down the road of identifying a new CFO before releasing her, Bernstein says. WPP shares fall 0.4%, while Diageo's rise 0.1%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1111 GMT - WPP is losing CFO Joanne Wilson to booze giant Diageo less than one year into a three-year turnaround program, which isn't ideal, Citi analysts say in a research note. Wilson's 12-month notice period should give the U.K. advertising group sufficient time to find a successor, the analysts say. "We believe while investors may have preferred Joanne remain on her role, the market will likely view the move to Diageo as understandable, given the relative size of the companies and Joanne's previous experience," Citi says. WPP shares trade broadly flat, while Diageo's are up slightly. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1102 GMT - Diageo's top brass should now remain more or less stable, analysts at Bernstein write after the drinks group named a new finance chief. Joanne Wilson, currently chief financial officer at ad firm WPP, will take the reins from Nik Jhangiani next year, furthering a shift in leadership that began with former Tesco boss Dave Lewis taking over as CEO of the Guinness maker at the start of this year and continued with other changes including at the top of the group's North America business. "This is arguably the biggest leadership change at Diageo since Sir Dave took over," Bernstein says. "While we would not rule out one or two more changes to come, we expect broad stability in the senior leadership team from here on in." Diageo shares trade slightly lower in London's morning trading following the news. (joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby)

1026 GMT - European companies' earnings will continue to grow, with the potential of semiconductor and financial stocks on the continent especially underappreciated by investors, UBS strategist Gerry Fowler writes. "Growth is priced too cheaply, especially where estimates are still rising," Fowler writes. Banks, pharmaceuticals and industrial goods sectors--which together dominate the Stoxx 600--are expanding, which in turn should drive equities higher, the strategist says. Bond yields on the continent have likely peaked, potentially turning the tide on "the single biggest drag" on European valuations this year. "If that headwind stalls, the lid comes off an earnings-led rally," Fowler writes. The Stoxx 600 slips 0.2%. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

1022 GMT - China's AI development is moving from policy ambition to commercial reality, BofA Securities says in a research note. "Domestic capabilities and adoption are advancing despite gaps in leading-edge hardware, while improvements in model efficiency and system optimization could support commercial viability before full technological self-sufficiency," the bank says. Tech progress and high-profile listings could expand China's "investable AI universe," it adds. This offers diverse business opportunities across the domestic AI industry and global supply chains, BofA says. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

1016 GMT - Norges Bank's rate decision on Thursday is highly uncertain, but a hike remains the most likely outcome, Handelsbanken's Norway chief economist Marius Gonsholt Hov writes. Views are divided on whether the key policy rate will be raised, but Handelsbanken leans towards an increase to 4.50%, which would be in line with the signals from Norges Bank's June report, it says. While core inflation has been lower than Norges Bank expected over the past three months, wage growth remains clearly too high. At the same time, international policy rate expectations have risen considerably, he adds. The new rate path will probably be revised slightly lower at the short end, but somewhat higher a bit further out, the bank says. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

1015 GMT - Adyen's appointment of a new chief financial officer clears up uncertainty, ING's Thymen Rundberg writes in a note. The Amsterdam-based payments provider named Niclas Neglen, who joins from online-payments company Klarna, as its next finance chief. "The appointment removes uncertainty around the permanent CFO position following the departure of Ethan Tandowsky earlier this year," Rundberg says. Additionally, Neglen appears to be a solid fit given his previous experience, particularly in his recent role as CFO at Klarna. Shares are down 1.7% at 887.20 euros. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

1013 GMT - AB InBev can meet its earnings goals over the medium term through rising sales and a higher price mix, analysts at J.P. Morgan write in a note. The world's largest brewer, maker of Bud Light and Stella Artois, is aiming for 4%-8% organic increases a year in its Ebitda, a goal it backed and detailed at an investor event this week. "We note a certain evolution in the algorithm," the analysts say, pointing to likely price rises in the group's labels ahead of average consumer-price inflation, which should support the Ebitda growth ambition. "We remain confident in AB InBev's ability to compound earnings." (joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby)

1000 GMT - Companies that sell software as a service need to embed artificial-intelligence agents in their products to succeed in the AI era, Clay Bavor, co-founder of AI startup Sierra, says at the HumanX AI conference in Amsterdam. "These days, if you aren't doing something agentic, you're nothing," he says. AI agents are meant to autonomously perform multiple tasks on users' behalf. Software stocks took a beating earlier this year after some investors started to question whether rapid advancements in AI could replace the services for which software-as-a-service, or SaaS, companies charge clients. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

0958 GMT - The AI trade has stalled as spending on tokens and chips falters, Fidelity's head of macro, Jurrien Timmer, writes on X. Investing in AI companies "has been dead money for more than three months," Timmer writes. Token expenditures--or the spending on AI computation--as well as the leasing of semiconductor chips are both flat or lower since June, according to Fidelity data. While AI could unleash a productivity boom, the buildout of the technology is currently inflationary, Timmer adds. The Nasdaq has gained 1.3% over the last three months, and closed at a new record Tuesday. Futures for the tech-heavy index are flat. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0942 GMT - Airtel Money's upcoming initial public offering might be less impressive than initially expected, AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth writes in a note. The African digital financial services platform said it plans to list existing shares on the London Stock Exchange. While the IPO appears as a positive for London's market reputation, the company says it won't raise any new money at all from it. "There was speculation it would raise at least $800 million through the stock listing," he adds. Airtel Africa shares are up 0.3% at 3.13 pounds. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

0941 GMT - Organizations that deploy artificial intelligence need to define their objectives to keep costs from the technology at bay, Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President of Agentic AI at Amazon Web Services, says at the HumanX AI conference in Amsterdam. "If you don't know precisely what is the return on investment you're after, what ends up happening is teams keep saying let's actually keep improving," he says. He compares the use of AI without a clear purpose to a vehicle going around a roundabout without knowing which exit to take. "You end up spending more fuel, or in the AI landscape, you end up spending more tokens and budget all the time," he notes.