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

1849 ET - Dicker Data's latest acquisition is viewed at UBS as an incrementally positive step despite its relatively small size. The investment bank's analysts tell clients in a note that Dicker Data's A$111.8 million move for regional tech-solutions distributor Sektor Group helps develop its geographic expansion at an attractive acquisition multiple. They think the deal will be immediately accretive to EPS for the Australia-listed hardware and software distributor. With Dicker Data targeting southeast Asia, the UBS analysts want to see more evidence that Sektor can grow its revenues outside of Australia and New Zealand. UBS has a neutral rating on the stock and an unchanged target price of 15.40 Australian dollars. Shares are at A$15.57 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1838 ET - Sports Entertainment Group's regional expansion helps the sports media group secure a new bull at Bell Potter. Initiating coverage of the stock with a buy rating, analyst Michael Ardrey tells clients in a note that the Australian company's recent acquisition of New Zealand-based audio and ad platform MediaWorks brings opportunities for organic growth and above-target cost synergies. With a business that includes sports-talk radio, digital media and live events, Ardrey thinks Sports Entertainment can generate average annual Ebitda growth of 13% through fiscal 2029. Bell Potter places a target price on the stock of 0.45 Australian dollars. Shares are at A$0.265 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1802 ET - For investors in HealthCo Healthcare & Wellness REIT, the focus has shifted to earnings quality and capital management. That's the view of Macquarie after new leases were agreed for hospitals formally run by Healthscope, which became insolvent. Macquarie says new 20-year triple-net leases preserve face rents. They're either CPI-linked or have 3% fixed annual rent escalations, with an overall incentive of 12%. Macquarie says attention is now on the sustainability of HealthCo's distributions. It notes HealthCo's FY27 guidance highlights a significant gap between funds from operations and underlying FFO. This reflects retained cash within the Unlisted Healthcare Fund, which is 49.6%-owned by HealthCo. "We expect that gap to narrow over time as UHF distributions gradually rebuild," Macquarie says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1759 ET - Australian shares look set for an uncertain start to trade despite fresh records from U.S. indices on strength in artificial intelligence-related stocks. Local equities futures are flat ahead of Wednesday's session, suggesting that the S&P/ASX 200 could pause following a three-day winning streak that lifted it 1.4% away from a four-month low. Ahead of the open, gold miner Regis Resources said quarterly production met expectations despite heavy rain. Lottery Corp said its CFO decided to step down. In the U.S., the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed at records. The DJIA rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 gained 0.6%,and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added almost 0.5%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1757 ET - Macquarie isn't ready to turn bullish on Tower, despite the New Zealand-based general insurer's upgrade to its annual earnings guidance. Tower now expects an underlying net profit of NZ$69 million-NZ$79 million in FY26. That's above prior guidance of NZ$55 million-NZ$65 million. The upgrade reflects only NZ$25 million of large events claims costs, compared with Tower's FY26 allowance of NZ$45 million. "Tower is one of the few insurance companies in the region with organic volume growth," Macquarie says. "But at this point in the premium rate cycle we maintain our neutral recommendation." Tower is up 1.5% at NZ$2.07 today. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1732 ET - LGI's A$22 million purchase of two solar farms in eastern Australia's Queensland state should drive Ebitda growth this fiscal year, says Ord Minnett. The Brigalow and Chinchilla solar farms have a combined export capacity of 42 megawatts. Analyst Tim Elder expects the acquisition can be comfortably funded through cash and existing debt. "At current market prices, we forecast the assets will contribute Ebitda of A$1.6 million in FY27 and A$2.2 million in FY28," Ord Minnett says. This could rise to A$3.4 million in FY29 and FY30 as LGI captures forecast portfolio and revenue savings. "The acquisition strengthens LGI's medium-term growth outlook and broadens its electricity generation platform," says Ord Minnett, which rates LGI a buy. Its price target lifts 3.5% to A$4.45/share. LGI ended Tuesday at A$2.20. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1421 ET - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are hitting new highs in an upswing for markets that could get another boost from Washington soon, WEBs Investments' Ben Fulton says in a note. With Republicans expected to lose the House, and potentially the Senate as well, political gridlock may take hold in the month ahead, if it hasn't already, Fulton says. A stalemated Congress might generate fewer headlines, shifting investor focus away from politics and toward the economy and corporate performance, he says. "For now, the combination offers a compelling backdrop for continued market strength," Fulton says. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1412 ET - Kalshi says that it has launched a new perpetual futures contract for the U.S. 500 - an index of the 500 largest U.S. companies weighed by market capitalization. The prediction market platform says that this contract is its first move into equities, building off of the progress it made listing crypto perpetual futures earlier this year. "With prediction markets, you get exposure to the events that affect the stock market," says Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour in a press release. "The next step is exposure to the stock market itself, and the U.S. 500 perp is the best way for our traders to get it." (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1239 ET - CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz says recent concerns over AI agents are solvable -- it just comes down to how companies approach cybersecurity. "The model providers are focused on trying to build guardrails around how the model actually thinks," Kurtz says during an appearance on CNBC. "But when you put it in production, you need to see what it actually does. You need to understand its actions." That's one of Crowdstrike's focuses when it comes to AI agents, he says. Through its offerings with Nvidia, Crowdstrike works to both enforce safety protocols and trace what AI agents are doing, he says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1226 ET - Southwest Airlines is launching a plugin in ChatGPT to allow users to discover and shop for flights from the carrier in OpenAI's chatbot. The plugin is designed to make Southwest flights pop up earlier when customers are booking travel through ChatGPT. The move comes as online travel agencies are trying to integrate more AI to adapt to consumers' increasing use of chatbots when booking trips. Southwest has been working with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services to keep up with AI demands from customers. "Customers are evolving how they plan their travel, and Southwest is helping to shape what comes next," says Sabrina Callahan, Southwest's chief digital and marketing officer. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1204 ET - CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz says companies don't necessarily need to pull back on their AI ramp ups as safety concerns mount. They just need to implement the right cybersecurity measures, he says. "In racing, you don't slow things down," Kurtz says during an appearance on CNBC. "You want to have the greatest amount of safety so you can go faster." Kurtz says cybersecurity is therefore critical for the U.S. to maintain an edge against China in the AI race. AI "is the greatest sea change that I've seen in my lifetime, and certainly in my technology career," Kurtz says. "You've just got to be able to harness it." (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1121 ET - President Trump's executive order temporarily allowing the use of red-dyed tax-free diesel by truckers who would normally use a taxed product is seen as having a limited benefit for U.S. farmers struggling with rising input costs. Red-dyed diesel is already being used by farmers to power farm machinery like tractors and combines, so the savings really goes to farmers transporting their harvests via trucks. But there's a way for this to backfire on farmers, says Jim Wiesemeyer of Ag Bull in a note. "Opening those inventories to additional highway customers could also increase competition for supplies at rural distributors during harvest," he says. Corn rises 0.9%, soybeans are up 0.9%, and wheat climbs 0.3%.