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

1135 ET - Cruise operators can expect some short-term headwinds before getting back to a positive trajectory as they digest the effect of an increased Caribbean supply, Melius Research analysts Conor Cunningham and Patrick Coleman write in a note. The supply increase in the Caribbean poses a challenge in the first quarter, as unit costs exceed net yields. "However, cruise should see that dynamic switch in 2H26, putting them back on a positive margin trajectory into 2027 and beyond," they write. They also note the ramp-up of private island investment, which is expected to be significantly accretive to net yields during the peak season in 2Q and 3Q. "Given the potential around the private islands driving wallet share and improving overall NPS, the near-term digestion period is really just that, a temporary event," they write. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1127 ET - 3M's sharper-than-expected margin deterioration in 4Q overshadowed the small beat to EPS, says Morgan Stanley's Christopher Snyder. "The negative surprise in 4Q vs our model was margins," pointing to a 360-basis-point sequential drop that was worse than normal seasonality, the analyst says in a report. The consumer segment was the main drag, with operating income coming in 12% below consensus and margins falling to 18%. Snyder adds that this shortfall increases near-term risk to 1Q, despite 2026 guidance landing roughly in line with expectations. "FY26 EPS will be unchanged and we think that is as good of an outcome as short-cycle industrials will deliver this EPS season," he says. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1113 ET - Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan described the Trump administration as a partner in boosting American artificial-intelligence investment and pushing back against European regulations in a CNBC interview at Davos, even as President Trump threatens significant tariffs on European countries over his push to acquire Greenland. "They've been a huge ally in pushing back on some of the discriminatory regulation that we've seen come out of Europe," Kaplan says. "There've been lots of discussions about tariffs over the last year. So far, we've been able to manage." He adds that European nations also stand to gain from the U.S. winning the AI race against China. "We're aligned with the administration and the U.S. that it's very important that we win this battle against China," he says. "That's a battle that not only the U.S., but all of the Western democracies have a stake in." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1108 ET - 3M says is entering a deeper phase of transformation focused on creating value over the long-term. "We're beginning to shift our emphasis to the next phase of value creation, which is more transformational in nature," CEO Bill Brown says in an earnings call. He says that this will be done by reengineering the company's structural cost-base by simplifying operations, standardizing processes, and adopting an AI-first mindset as 3M shifts toward a fully integrated operating model. He says 3M is also taking proactive steps to reduce risk and manage litigation efficiently, acting when protections and pricing are appropriate. After this phase, he says that 3M will "pivot... towards higher growth and margin potential priority verticals that help us accelerate value creation for the company." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1104 ET - Roblox's age-check process hasn't materially affected monetization or player time, Oppenheimer analysts say in a research note, citing their analysis of the top Roblox games by revenue and engagement. Revenue declines in the high-single-digit percent range after age verification appear milder than typical New Year seasonality, the analysts say. And while engagement has fallen about 20% sequentially, they note that year-ago comparisons indicate larger seasonal declines of up to 44%, suggesting neutral to better-than-seasonal performance. "Despite encouraging signals, we believe more data is needed," the analysts write, noting their sample size was small and that the age-check rollout only began about two weeks ago. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1103 ET - Progressive discloses a new pet insurance offering that it says is designed to help people get care for their pets by making veterinary care more affordable. The new offering is underwritten directly by Progressive and its affiliated underwriting companies, and is administered by pet insurance program provider Companion Protect. It will be offered alongside Progressive's long-standing pet insurance program administered by Pets Best. Coverage under the new plan will cost $47 a month on average, with premiums and eligibility that vary depending on age, breed and other pet characteristics. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1100 ET - Meta sees wearable technology as its leg up in the company's goal to build "personal superintelligence," even as its Llama artificial-intelligence model underperforms competitor models, Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan says in a CNBC interview at Davos. "We've got a real lead on wearables, which we think is going to be the next computing technology that actually brings that superintelligence to bear," Kaplan says, citing the company's partnerships with Ray-Ban and Oakley. "We think that's the right form factor to bring AI to people. We've got some work to do to catch up on the frontier with our models, and I think we're going to get there this year, and then we're going to match that with our distribution." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1053 ET - U.S. home prices ticked up 0.1% month-over-month in December, Redfin says, following a 0.2% gain in November. Prices rose 2.2% from a year earlier, down from November's 2.6% year-over-year increase and in line with the gradual slowdown that began in early 2025, when prices were rising more than 6% annually. Home-price growth slowed to close out 2025 because would-be homebuyers continued their months-long pullback. Relatively high mortgage rates and widespread economic uncertainty have discouraged people from buying in recent months. But prices are still rising because prospective home sellers have been pulling back, too. Homebuying affordability is expected to improve in 2026. Falling mortgage rates have already substantially strengthened purchasing power for homebuyers, whose typical monthly payment fell to the lowest level in two years in early January. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1045 ET - If the U.S. carries makes good on its Greenland-related tariff threat, Europe might decide it has no choice but to retaliate, Todd Friedbacher, a partner at law firm Sidley Austin, says. "Painful as it will be for European exporters and consumers, the Greenland threat shows that the terms of the Turnberry deal, and what Europe must deliver to get the benefit of its bargain, are forever moving targets." Europe seems to have understood that its concessions so far have been interpreted as a sign of weakness by the U.S., Friedbacher adds. "No amount of concessions will work - the price extracted will ever increase," he says. (edith.hancock@wsj.com)

1044 ET - Energy flows between the U.S. and Europe are unlikely to be targeted in any potential future tariff escalation, analysts at Rabobank say. "Both sides stand to lose: Europe because of its heavy reliance on U.S. LNG, and the U.S. because Europe has effectively become its indispensable export market after China's shift away from American cargoes," Florence Schmit says. In the third quarter of last year, the U.S. accounted for 14.5% of the EU's oil imports and for 60% of its LNG imports, highlighting Europe's deep reliance on American energy supplies. Any escalation in trade tensions, however, would hurt demand for exposed European manufacturers and reinforce the narrative of a well supplied market, pushing prices lower. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

1042 ET - There were an estimated 47.1% more home sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in December, Redfin says, or 631,535 more in numerical terms. It's up 7.1 percentage points from a month earlier and up 22.2 percentage points from a year earlier. When sellers outnumber buyers, buyers typically hold the negotiating power because they have a lot of options to choose from. But high housing costs and economic uncertainty have caused many house hunters to retreat, creating an imbalance of buyers and sellers. Nationally, home prices rose 0.1%--the slowest growth since June 2023. The number of homebuyers in the market dropped 5.9% month-over-month in December to an estimated 1.34 million. Sellers have also been retreating, but not as quickly. The number of sellers in the market fell 1.1% month-over-month to an estimated 1.97 million. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1026 ET - Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern might be waiting until 2Q or even 3Q of 2027 to receive a final decision on the merits of their proposal to merge in a $71.5 billion deal, JPMorgan's Brain Ossenbeck writes in a note. He thinks the Surface Transportation Board's decision that the merger application is incomplete may not be a death knell for the merger, but it does detract from the notion that the deal is all sewn up. He also notes that the STB suggested that the companies' revised merger application could include changes in response to feedback from other stakeholders. This, he writes, "could be taken as a suggestion for UP/NS to provide a more robust analysis in support of the merits of the merger." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2026 11:35 ET (16:35 GMT)

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