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

1946 ET - Viva Energy's update in the aftermath of the Geelong refinery fire suggests that restarting the Residue Catalytic Cracking Unit will take around one month longer than originally signaled, Jefferies says. Viva Energy says the RCCU and associated units are likely to be operational again in June. Production will rise to more than 90% of capacity once the RCCU is back online. Analyst Michael Simotas says the implied delay largely affects gasoline volumes, which are generating relatively low margins currently. "Middle distillate crack spreads remain very high, and will be a more important driver of earnings and cash flow than volume," Jefferies says. It retains a hold call and A$2.25/share price target on Viva Energy, which ended Monday at A$2.42. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1940 ET - Bell Potter retains a bullish call on the drinks-to-hotels group Endeavour, despite slowing sales, as the Middle East conflict rattles consumer confidence. Endeavour, which owns the Dan Murphy's and BWS brands, said retail sales in the second half of the 2026 fiscal year so far were 0.7% higher than a year earlier. But that represented a slowdown on the 2.9% growth achieved in 3Q. "Although the outlook for consumer spending has weakened due to the Middle East conflict and a worsening rate environment, we believe market expectations are low for the company's strategic refresh, leaving greater room for upside potential," analyst Baxter Kirk says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1933 ET - A2 Milk's product recall in the U.S. could reverberate elsewhere. The company is recalling three batches of infant milk formula products sold in the U.S. due to the presence of cereulide. Analyst Jonathan Snape suggests a2 Milk could need to step up brand investment in China to reassure customers there about product safety. "The timing of the recall is also less than ideal as a2 Milk is already short product on ground in China and hence already needed to potentially invest to recapture customers that had switched to alternative suppliers," Bell Potter says. It retains a hold call on a2 Milk and cuts its price target by 19% to A$6.75/share. On the ASX, a2 Milk's shares ended Monday at A$6.55. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1911 ET [Dow Jones]--The demand for Palantir's technology from the U.S. defense industrial base is so intense that the company has had to redirect resources from its commercial business, Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says, adding that the release of new, powerful artificial-intelligence models from OpenAI and Anthropic will lead to soaring rates of new vulnerabilities in critical technology. "This is the Sputnik moment in the AI arms race," he says. Beyond the company's flagship Maven and Titan defense systems, the company is also working on production "across major weapons systems" for the Pentagon. "When the stakes are highest, when failure is measured in lives and readiness, this is where we are uniquely positioned on the factory floor side." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1903 ET [Dow Jones]--The advancement of artificial-intelligence and the falling costs of AI tokens has led to a proliferation of AI "slop" within business software, Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says. "More tokens means more slop, and the more commodity cognition you consume, the more you need a system that can prevent the economic harm so you can harness the economic value," Sankar says. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform, he adds, "is the no-slop zone, the platform where every agent action is governed, attributed and auditable." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1902 ET - Australian stocks look set to fall as investors prepare for a likely interest-rate rise by the country's central bank. ASX futures are down by 0.8% ahead of Tuesday's session, during which the Reserve Bank of Australia is scheduled to make its latest call on rates. Economists expect the RBA to raise the cash rate for the third time in 2026 in response to rising inflation. The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark equities index is coming off a 0.4% slip, its ninth fall in 10 days. Ahead of the open, Westpac bank reported a broadly flat first-half cash profit and warned that the Iran conflict will affect Australia's economy through the rest of the year. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1816 ET - Citi sees increased risk that Lottery Corp. misses 2H consensus estimates. That's because the company needs 25% on-year growth in lottery turnover in May and June to hit market forecasts. "This appears very difficult given the cycling of large jackpots in the prior corresponding period and a recent deceleration in the Powerball jackpot sequence," analyst Adrian Lemme says. Still, it thinks negative sentiment about recent trading could be offset by Lottery Corp.'s defensive appeal right now. Also, the company could deliver positive updates on its digital operations and cost savings at an investor day scheduled for the middle of this year. "We therefore retain our 'neutral' rating and A$5.10 target price," Citi says. Lottery Corp. ended Monday at A$5.46. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1810 ET - Palantir's Artificial-Intelligence Platform, or AIP, has boundless potential to automate enterprise workflows, Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says on an analyst call, adding that this is "why we are seeing the death of legacy software." He says Palantir internally has switched from an old and costly customer relationship management platform to an AI-first platform built using AIP, and cites the example of one client where 97% of employees use Palantir's Foundry every day. "AIP replaces static workflows not by replicating the playbook, but by eliminating the need for one," Sankar says. "Every other piece of software must now justify its existence. And so far, they haven't been able to." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1705 ET - Palantir's record 1Q results include a substantial contribution from the U.S. government. Revenue from U.S. government contracting was $687 million in the company's most recent quarter, up 84% year-over-year and accounting for nearly 54% of Palantir's total revenue in the U.S. Palantir's government contracting has been a source of some controversy, but CEO Alex Karp dismisses criticism of its work for the government in a letter to shareholders. "It is worth noting there is really nobody making the case that the U.S. military should have second-rate AI capabilities or lackluster software," he writes. "If we are going to ask someone to step into harm's way on behalf of our country, they deserve the best." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1704 ET - IAC says print revenue for People declined again in its latest quarter, down 16%, as audience and advertising spend continues to shift from print to digital. The metric was also hurt by ongoing portfolio optimization, the company says. People's digital revenue, meanwhile, rose 8%, boosted by higher premium advertising sales and performance marketing growth. People's digital sales were also helped by an increase in licensing and other revenue due to improved performance from Apple News+ and content syndication partners as well as the company's Meta content partnership, IAC says. The results come after IAC said last week it would cut staff and change its name to People Inc. as part of its shift to focus more on its core publishing operations.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1656 ET - Investors are looking to understand where and how rampant investments in artificial-intelligence are generating returns. Palantir CEO Alex Karp has an answer. "We believe it is not hyperbolic to say that nearly all AI workflows that actually create value-especially on the battlefield-are built on Palantir," Karp opens his letter to shareholders. "We are an N of 1." The company reports a record $1.63 billion in sales during the first quarter, with profit about tripling to $876 million. Palantir also lifts its outlook to project 71% growth this year, 10 percentage points ahead of its previous guidance. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1620 ET - Paramount's results are reaping the benefits of continued growth for the company's Paramount+ streaming service. In the latest quarter, Paramount+ revenue climbed 17% as the service's subscriber base grew to 79.6 million, up 2% from a year ago. Paramount says its direct-to-consumer business has had a strong start to the year, pointing to the success of series like "Landman" and the debuts of "The Madison" and "Marshals." The company says "Landman" is now the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, while "The Madison" has attracted 12.5 million viewers in its first month on the service. Both series have been renewed for subsequent seasons, Paramount says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 04, 2026 19:46 ET (23:46 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.