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

0842 GMT - BHP continues to monitor the uranium market, but needs it to be at least three times the size to potentially become a pillar of the giant miner's portfolio, says Citi. "Uranium is only a $10 billion market currently and needs to be a circa $30 billion market in 2-3 decades to be one of BHP's pillars," it says. The bank's remarks follow recent meetings with BHP management. Discussions centered on the company's organic growth pipeline in copper, which appears to preclude near-term, large-scale M&A, says Citi. "Regarding copper, the buy vs build decision is heavily stacked in favor of organic growth (difficult to justify acquiring copper companies at over $80,000/ton of production when BHP is developing assets at $20,000-30,000/ton of production), according to the company," Citi says. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0841 GMT - Shares in U.K. home builders fell after Lloyds reported a 0.4% annual decline in house prices. This is the first on-year decrease since November 2023. According to Lloyds' house price index, some buyers have held back on purchases due to higher borrowing costs as well as the conflict in the Middle East. House prices in August fell 0.2% to 298,468 pounds. July's initial 0.1% growth reading was revised down to a 0.1% decline. "While affordability remains a challenge, wages continue to grow and employment has held up better than many anticipated," the report says. Vistry is down 1.4%, Crest Nicholson falls 1.2% and Taylor Wimpey is down 0.8%. (anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com)

0836 GMT - Shares of European semiconductor companies are in green territory following strong gains in Asia as investors continue to bet on stocks with exposure to artificial intelligence. South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix closed 8.3% higher, while Samsung Electronics gained 5.7%. In Europe, shares of Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding and smaller rival ASM International are up 1.9% and 3.4%, respectively. BE Semiconductor Industries, a Dutch supplier of semiconductor assembly equipment, is up 2.6%. German chip maker Infineon Technologies is up 3.3%. STMicroelectronics shares are up 3.1%. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

0834 GMT - China's artificial-intelligence strategy is accelerating investment in infrastructure and broadening AI adoption across related sectors, according to Moody's Ratings in a research note. Infrastructure companies are increasingly participating in China's AI ecosystem as investors, developers and users of AI technologies, it points out. "Applications in power grids, power generation, ports, airports and toll roads are already improving forecasting, dispatch, maintenance and asset utilization, generating measurable operational benefits," it says. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0834 GMT - China's auto market is likely to continue seeing slow momentum due to reduction in government subsidies and a 5% purchase tax hike on EVs, Bernstein analysts write in a note. This follows strong demand that had been pulled forward into 2024 and 2025 and a high comparison base, even as macro headwinds and weak consumer sentiment persist, they say. The industry could also face pressure from material cost inflation headwinds. Industry wholesale volumes in 2026 is forecast to reach 28 million-29 million units, falling 4%-8% on year. Bernstein maintains a cautious outlook for the sector this year. Bernstein forecasts 2026 domestic retail demand at 21 million-22 million units, declining 5%-9% on year. Exports should remain a growth driver this year, projected at 6.5 million-7 million units. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)

0812 GMT - European natural-gas prices climb more than 2%, trading just shy of 74 euros a megawatt-hour as supply flows from Qatar remain severely disrupted. "LNG has not been flowing out as much as crude oil, leaving the gas market increasingly vulnerable as we near the 2026/27 heating season," ING analysts say. Qatar, one of the world's largest LNG exporters, recently extended force majeure on liquefied natural gas shipments for Edison--one of its largest European customers--through early November. Meanwhile, gas storage levels across the EU are currently 66% full, below the seasonal average. In early European trading, the benchmark Dutch TTF contract is up 2.4% to 73.73 euros a megawatt-hour.(giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

0806 GMT - Singapore's retail sales momentum is likely to moderate through 2026, RHB Bank's Barnabas Gan says in a report. Retail sales grew by 1.5% on year in July, compared to 4.0% in June. Rising geopolitical uncertainty, particularly in the Middle East, could weigh on consumer and business confidence. This would encourage more cautious spending and moderating discretionary demand, Gan says. Tourism-dependent segments, including luxury retail, department stores and jewelry, also face more headwinds if there are fewer visitors in Singapore or softening tourist spending. RHB maintains its 2026 retail sales growth for Singapore at 3.0%. (amanda.lee@wsj.com)

0749 GMT - China's inflation data is likely to be mixed in August, according to Deutsche Bank economists in a research note. The bank expects China's PPI inflation to moderate to 3.2% on year in August from 3.5% in July, DB says. "While the rebound in oil prices over the past two months continued to support price gains in the petroleum sector, price trends across most other industries were largely flat," the bank says. By contrast, DB expects CPI inflation to pick up to 0.8% on year from 0.5%, driven by continued increases in pork and vegetable prices. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0744 GMT - Advanced Info Service's recent share sell-off and dividend yield create an attractive entry point for investors, says Maybank Securities (Thailand)'s Wasu Mattanapotchanart in a note. Shares of the Thai mobile network service provider have declined around 8% since its 2Q results, underperforming the benchmark SET Index's roughly 2% drop, the analyst notes. Its above-average 2027 dividend yield of 5.6% and estimated 2026 and 2027 core profit growth of 18% and 7%, respectively, turn the analyst bullish on the stock. Maybank Securities (Thailand) upgrades its rating to buy from hold and raises its target price to 387.00 baht from 369.00 baht. Shares are up 2.9% at 356.00 baht. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)

0738 GMT - Ashmore Group's fiscal 2026 underlying performance fell short of market expectations, Cavendish's Rahim Karim and Jens Ehrenberg write in a note. The London-listed emerging markets asset manager has delivered mixed results, they say. While the company reported weaker-than-anticipated adjusted Ebitda, pretax profit rose and was broadly in line with consensus expectations, they note. Additionally, "Ashmore's shares have significantly re-rated in the past nine months, which to a large degree was owing to the perceived inflection in Emerging Markets flows seen across the industry," they add. Shares are down 2% at 2.14 pounds. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

0737 GMT - The launch of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum carrying the German Space Agency's Microlauncher Competition CubeSats marks an important milestone for the European space industry, according to analysts at Berenberg. The launch was continental Europe's first commercial orbital success, they say. However, scaling sovereign launch capability will still take some time, so the most sensible option in the near term is for U.S. providers to bring capability to European territory instead, they note. (aimee.look@wsj.com)

0735 GMT - Gold prices fall after surprisingly strong U.S. jobs data and renewed Middle East tensions reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise rates next week. In early European trading, New York futures are down 0.8% to $4,442.40 a troy ounce. "Gold has remained volatile around $4,400 after recovering from July lows near $4,000 an ounce," says Soojin Kim from MUFG. "This week's U.S. inflation data will be critical in determining whether the Fed tightens policy at its Sept. 15-16 meeting, with persistent price pressures likely to remain a near-term headwind." According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, traders are now pricing in a 58% probability of a rate hike this month.