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

1012 ET - Stripe is preparing for the rapid growth of agentic commerce, which could at one point enable AI agents to buy products without people having to ask, the company says in its annual shareholder letter. Currently, the industry is in the stage of using agents to fill in consumers' payment information or find products based on needs a consumer describes. But eventually, agents will be able to search and make purchase decisions on behalf of consumers. "It's clear we've already moved well beyond pure hype into a phase of building and real-world experimentation. The pace of change will likely only accelerate from here," Stripe says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1009 ET - Stablecoin volumes are no longer tracking crypto asset prices and are instead becoming a critical part of business-to-business financial infrastructure, Stripe says in its annual shareholder letter. A series of new tech capabilities are allowing stablecoins to be used widely and easily and stablecoin payment volume doubled in 2025 even as Bitcoin prices fell. But today's blockchains cannot support the growing number of stablecoin transactions, especially as agentic commerce takes hold. "Agents will most likely soon be responsible for most internet transactions, and we will likely need blockchains that support more than one million or even one billion transactions per second," Stripe says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1000 ET - Companies are no longer expanding country-by-country and are instead making their revenue base global immediately, Stripe says in its annual shareholder letter. Tech infrastructure is allowing companies to localize their offerings and customer experiences, the payment processing platform says. It adds that among Stripe businesses with mostly international revenue, 30% of that revenue comes from countries that are neither their home market nor one of the top 10 global economies. Even fintechs, which have previously been constrained by financial geography barriers, are going international quickly. Now, stablecoins allow fintechs to set up "infrastructure that works everywhere," Stripe says. "Global-by-default financial services are, for the first time, a real possibility." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

0952 ET - The gap between the most successful companies and everyone else is growing, says Stripe in its annual shareholder letter. The payment processing platform says that profits and valuations are being concentrated among the top S&P 500 companies, while within industries, a bifurcation is taking place. In retail, ecommerce is soaring, while brick-and-mortar is stagnant. In air travel, American Airlines, Delta and United, all increased their share of industry revenue and profits over the past decade. In healthcare, health tech is flourishing, while hospital and insurer profits contract. "Winners and losers are being anointed more quickly and more intensely," the company says. "Each sector has its own particular dynamics, but the pattern is clear: a cohort of companies is pulling away." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

0926 ET - Stablecoin market capitalization looks set to rise in coming years, increasing demand for Treasury bills, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick says in a note. Growth in stablecoin market cap has stalled in recent months as digital assets have weakened and as the buildout of new stablecoins take time to emerge after last year's passage of the U.S. Genius Act which regulates the cryptocurrency, he says. However, this looks driven by macroeconomic factors rather than structural issues and stablecoin market cap could reach $2 trillion by end-2028 from $304 billion today, he says. "We project that this will result in $800 billion to $1 trillion of fresh demand for T-bills (for use as reserves) from stablecoin issuers over that period." (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

0920 ET -- Thomson Reuters says its CoCounsel platform, which it calls professional-grade artificial intelligence technology, has reached one million users globally. The company's shares have been hit hard recently, sliding in step with other software and information-services sectors over mounting concerns that new AI tools could disrupt traditional workflow software. Thomson Reuters on Tuesday pushed back, saying "general-purpose AI can generate plausible answers. Regulated professionals, however, need AI that withstands review in courtrooms, audits and regulatory proceedings." The company says trust in AI is the key differentiator for professionals, backing its platform as the more reliable because it is "grounded in decades of authoritative content, validated by domain experts, and backed by a clear commitment that customer data remains theirs." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

0912 ET - Overall F1Q was a strong period for Bank of Nova Scotia, which is pushing up its 14% return on equity target by one year to fiscal 2027, Stephen Boland of Raymond James says. Adjusted EPS at C$2.05 beat the C$1.93 Boland forecast, and C$1.95 consensus view. The solid outperformance was supported by growth across all business segments, higher net interest margins, and positive operating leverage, Boland says. He notes fee-based businesses, particularly wealth management and global banking and markets, delivered the strongest momentum. Raymond James has an outperform call on Scotiabank's shares. (robb.stewart@wsj.com)

0908 ET - Planet Fitness logs higher-than-expected revenue and Ebitda in 4Q, largely driven by strong equipment sales, UBS analysts say in a research note. The company's guidance for both of those metrics, though, is a bit lighter than estimates. The analysts attribute the lower-than-expected revenue outlook to Planet Fitness' shift from local to national advertising. The company's forecasts for same-store sales and new unit openings are largely in line with expectations, they add. On the call, investors will be looking for insights into the gym chain's membership growth so far in 2026, as well as anchors for its same-store growth outlook. Shares fall 5.2% premarket. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0847 ET - Planet Fitness announces 4Q results and issues 2026 guidance, both of which largely point to a business model that is resilient, consistent and highly profitable, Jefferies analysts say in a research note. However, the gym chain's '26 views for revenue, adjusted Ebitda and unit growth are slightly below the 3-year projections the company gave at its recent analyst day, the analysts say. That guidance "will necessitate management explaining," according to the analysts. "The market will also look for color on member count exiting January, and an update on churn related to click-to-cancel." Planet Fitness falls 5% premarket. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0839 ET - The battle between Netflix and Paramount to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in part or in whole may not be won by the side that offers the most money, AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth says. Paramount raised its offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery Monday, but "there is a good argument to suggest Netflix is a better fit than Paramount, given its scale and reach," Coatsworth writes. Warner's board confirmed it received Paramount's fresh bid Tuesday, and said it continues to recommend Netflix's all-cash offer for its studio and streaming businesses. Warner Bros. Discovery shares rise 0.8% premarket, while Paramount Skydance climbs 0.75%. Netflix climbs 0.5% premarket. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0831 ET - Warner Bros. Discovery says it received a revised acquisition offer from Paramount Skydance, which is being reviewed by the company's financial and legal advisors. Warner Bros. Discovery says is plans to update its shareholders following the Board's review. For the time being, though, "the Netflix merger agreement remains in effect, and the Board continues to recommend in favor of the Netflix transaction," Warner Bros. Discovery says. The company notes its shareholders are advised not to take any action at this time regarding Paramount's amended offer. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0739 ET - Expect the Bank of Canada to remain on hold until the outcome of USMCA negotiations becomes clearer, then it will begin to raise interest rates, Bank of Nova Scotia says in its quarterly report to shareholders. The bank currently assumes the North America free trade pact will be renewed with modest adjustments, though it concedes uncertainty around this and other geopolitical and financial risk largely tied to U.S. policies pose a significant risk to its outlook. As it stands, it anticipates inflationary pressures will keep core inflation in the upper half of the central bank's 1%-3% target range. It forecasts the policy interest rate will reach 3% by early 2027. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2026 10:12 ET (15:12 GMT)

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