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

1000 GMT - Primark owner Associated British Foods faces structural headwinds, Citi analysts write. Primark--which is expected to be spun off from the group by the end of next year--is likely to face lackluster like-for-like sales growth, while the sugar unit will face persistent risks from price volatility, the analysts say. AB Foods--home to the Twinings and Patak's brands--is also exposed to various declining grocery categories. It is due to report a trading update on Sept. 10. Citi raises its target price to 15.50 pounds from 13.30 pounds and keeps its sell rating on the stock. Shares are up 1.5% at 20.61 pounds but down 3.10% over the year to date. (ian.walker@wsj.com)

0956 GMT - WPP is in the pole position to retain Coca-Cola's international media account and even win back the U.S. portion it lost to rival Publicis Groupe, Bank of America analysts say in a research note. Reports that PepsiCo shifted its global media duties to Publicis from Omnicom Group could make WPP a collateral winner, since Publicis is withdrawing from Coca-Cola's pitch, the analysts say. "We think it unlikely that [Omnicom] will be invited to pitch, given it remains on PepsiCo's roster, while other agencies are unlikely to be sufficiently scaled," they add. For Omnicom, the news is disappointing and reinforces concerns about staff departures and client losses after its acquisition of Interpublic, according to Bank of America. WPP shares rise 4% and Publicis trades 3.6% higher. Omnicom closed 5% lower Wednesday. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0955 GMT - Bayer sees its agricultural business on track to hit 2029 targets set a couple of years ago, but the market doesn't seem to be fully grasping the unit's potential, analysts at J.P. Morgan say in a research note. At an event held Wednesday, the German conglomerate reiterated its 2029 forecast for its agricultural division, with incremental sales of 3.5 billion euros over the 2024-29 period and an improvement in its underlying Ebitda margin to the mid-20s percentage range. The outlook confirmation is encouraging, because the unit's potential is undervalued by the market and consensus estimates for 2029 sales and underlying Ebitda are short of what Bayer's guidance implies by 3% and 9%, respectively, according to JPM. Bayer shares fall 0.5%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0953 GMT - Jet2's trading performance looks solid with a somewhat encouraging outlook, Davy Research's Ava Costello and Stephen Furlong say. Davy previously forecast operating profit of 277 million pounds and 473 million pounds for fiscal 2027 and 2028, respectively, ahead of the consensus of around 258 million pounds and 400 million pounds. The analysts say Davy is likely to move its outlook downward toward the consensus due to higher fuel prices. Davy has a neutral recommendation on the stock with a price target of 12.60 pounds. Shares are up 2.6% at 14.95 pounds. (michael.hennessey@wsj.com)

0936 GMT - Watches of Switzerland set a good pace in its fiscal first quarter but the second half of the year is likely to be less dynamic, Jefferies analyst James Grzinic cautions. The U.K.-based retailer backed its fiscal 2027 guidance after booking strong trading over the summer months. "We believe that unchanged full-year guidance reflects expectations of a likely less dynamic second half," Grzinic writes in a note. Shares lose 1.5% in morning trading in London, joining a slide in other European luxury stocks. (joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby)

0931 GMT - Snowflake's new artificial intelligence feature is in a positive feedback loop as demand soars, Jefferies's Brent Thill writes. Cortex Code, Snowflake's coding assistant, is the company's "killer AI capability," the analyst says. Registered accounts for the AI co-pilot jumped by more than 2,000 on-quarter, surpassing 9,100 in total and driving headline revenue growth higher, Thill writes. Users of Cortex Code are also using the U.S. cloud-based AI company's overall platform more, "reinforcing our view that AI is additive rather than cannibalistic," Thill says. Snowflake guided for third-quarter revenue growth well-ahead of analysts' expectations, the analyst notes. Shares jump 24% premarket. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0928 GMT - Reports that Publicis Groupe secured PepsiCo's entire media account point to another major win for the French advertising group, boosting hopes that it can sustain organic revenue growth over the medium term, Bank of America analysts say. Publicis was already the incumbent for PepsiCo's media activities across many Asian markets and eastern Europe, but the win could boost its 2027 organic net revenue growth by between 50 and 100 basis points, according to Bank of America. This uplift could be reduced to between 30 and 80 basis points if Publicis loses its recently won Coca-Cola account due to the potential conflict of interest, the analysts say. Publicis shares rise 3.5%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0917 GMT - Broadcom's revenue guidance delivered on high expectations given the group's massive estimate for 2028 AI revenue, Bernstein analysts write. The chip design and cloud computing company said its AI revenue would hit $230 billion in 2028, a number that "should be well ahead of expectations," the analysts say. Bearish investors will raise concerns that Google demand will weaken, making frontier AI labs OpenAI and Anthropic Broadcom's largest customers. However, the labs' spending aspirations are dependable, they say, while Broadcom will benefit from being less reliant on just Google. Broadcom shares fall 2.4% premarket.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0914 GMT - Watches of Switzerland's current trading looks strong, but comparison bases get tougher ahead, RBC Capital Markets' Piral Dadhania and Richard Chamberlain write in a note to clients. The U.K.-based luxury-watch retailer on Thursday backed its guidance for the full fiscal year after noting continued strong momentum in the first quarter, including in the U.S. The run-rate looks above guidance, in fact, though second-half comparisons get tougher, Dadhania and Chamberlain note. "We suspect these results will be interpreted as cautiously positive, given the UK improvement and continued healthy U.S. momentum." Shares lose 1.6% in morning trading in London, joining a slide in other European luxury stocks. (joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby)

0907 GMT - Hewlett Packard Enterprise investors will be disheartened by its guidance for a normalization of AI revenue growth and margins, JPMorgan analysts write. The technology company raised its outlook for both 2026 and 2027 in earnings released after the closing bell Wednesday on strong demand across the group's AI and traditional hardware businesses. However, "investor sentiment will likely be tempered" by the guide for decelerating revenue growth in the group's cloud and AI division, as well as tighter margins in 2027. Still, the group's networking outlook points to steepening growth acceleration that will help offset margin compression in its AI business. Shares fall 3.3% premarket.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0900 GMT - Malaysia's telecommunications sector is expected to see improvement in core EPS sequentially in 3Q, supported by seasonality, mobile monetization and fiber connectivity demand, CIMB Securities analyst Choong Chen Foong says in a note. The outlook remains supported by a potential review of telecom access prices. This is likely to begin in September or October and conclude by December or January 2027, he notes. The transfer of shares in Malaysia's state-backed 5G infrastructure firm Digital Nasional from the Ministry of Finance to Maxis, CelcomDigi and YTL Power International could be completed by end-3Q, providing greater clarity on DNB's net losses and the telcos' plans to mitigate the impact on earnings over the next two to three years, he adds. CIMB maintains an overweight rating on the sector.(yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

0815 GMT - Venezuela crude oil production isn't expected to return to pre-2018 levels of above 2 million barrels a day over the next few years, despite renewed interest from U.S. and European oil companies, Goldman Sachs says. Production stood at around 1.1 million barrels a day in July, while crude and condensate exports have risen 400,000 barrels a day year-on-year, with the U.S. overtaking China as the largest buyer. Chevron and Eni are among the companies expected to expand operations, supporting a gradual increase in output. However, significant infrastructure damage and an unreliable power grid remain major constraints, making a rapid recovery difficult and costly, analysts at the U.S. bank say.