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

0927 GMT - Kenneth Dart's Candle Lake has acquired an additional 2 million shares in Evolution, taking its total holding to 30.02% of the shares and votes, thereby crossing the mandatory offer threshold, Pareto Securities says in a note. "In practice, this means Dart has four weeks to either launch a mandatory offer for all remaining shares or sell down below 30% of the votes." The minimum offer price is the highest price Dart has paid over the past six months, which likely is roughly where shares closed Friday, Pareto says. The bank rates Evolution at buy with an 800 Swedish kronor target price. Shares rise 3.8% to 721.60 kronor. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0909 GMT - Z.AI still faces pressure despite its recent revenue milestone and expanded compute plan, Jefferies analysts say in a research note. The latest compute plan should support frontier-model training and meeting customers' growing inference demand. Also, Z.AI's annual recurring revenue reached $1 billion, Jefferies says. However, the surging demand is mainly due to strong adoption of its latest model, and isn't clear whether the growth is sustainable. Rising supply-chain costs and price competition could weigh on margins, they note. Jefferies still favors internet players over standalone model labs, as "full stack platforms like Alibaba and ByteDance can sustain low token prices by reducing costs through proprietary infra, resource scheduling and model optimization." Jefferies has a hold rating and target price of 1,299.80 Hong Kong dollars. Shares last traded at HK$1,281.00. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0858 GMT - Shares of European semiconductor companies started the week in green territory after the Trump administration paused plans to escalate its war in Iran, boosting stocks globally. In Asia, South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix closed up 3.3%, while Samsung Electronics shares closed 1.8% higher. In Europe, shares of Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding and smaller rival ASM International are up 1.7% and 0.5%, respectively. German chip maker Infineon Technologies is up 2.1%. STMicroelectronics shares are up 1.9%. Meanwhile, the E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures contract is up 1.6%, pointing to a strong opening of tech stocks in the U.S. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

0845 GMT - SGS's acceleration in organic growth in the second half of the year was the only marginally positive element in the results, AlphaValue analyst Kulwinder Rajpal says in a research note. The Swiss inspection, verification and testing company posted faster growth across natural resources, health and nutrition, and connectivity and products, Rajpal says. However, growth in industries and environment was hit by the conflict in the Middle East, the analyst adds. As the rest of the results for the first six months of the year came in broadly in line with expectations, the analysts doesn't forecast any rating changes to the stock since consensus already has penciled in reasonable growth and margin expansion, AlphaValue says. Shares trade 0.4% higher at 93.76 Swiss francs. (nina.kienle@wsj.com)

0843 GMT - Malaysia is likely to be a key beneficiary of the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, supported by stronger AI-related participation, with expanded re-export activities and increased Chinese investment inflows, UOB economists say in a note. They say the country has benefited from both long-term production shifts under the China+1 strategy and near-term trade diversion away from China. Looking ahead, sustaining these gains will depend on Malaysia's ability to deepen local manufacturing capabilities, move further up the technology value chain and create more domestic value as tougher rules of origin and anti-transshipment measures take effect, they add. (yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

0818 GMT - SAP shares are gaining ground on Monday, extending a rally from last week after the German business-software group surprised investors with strong revenue figures that showed the resilience of its cloud business. The group's current cloud backlog--a closely watched measure of sales that SAP expects over the coming year based on existing contracts--grew 26% at constant currencies in the second quarter, above expectations of around 24%. Shares in Frankfurt closed 9.3% higher on Friday and are up 5.4% at 147.74 euros on Monday. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

0801 GMT - CXMT's spectacular debut shows that the strategic bid for chip exposure remains powerful, Tickmill Group's Patrick Munnelly says in a research note. CXMT's shares soared 466% in its Shanghai trading debut, making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China. The robust performance shows how aggressively domestic investors are chasing national semiconductor champions tied to the artificial-intelligence theme, Munnelly says, even as global investors continue to question whether AI capex could justify valuations. While this robust performance doesn't relieve concerns about AI spending, it shows that investors still want chip exposure, especially when national policy and the AI infrastructure build-out align, he adds. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0757 GMT - Portuguese energy company Galp Energia could be taking the first step toward selling its solar and wind portfolio, RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria writes. Galp is buying 15 onshore wind farms in Spain in a 420-million-euro deal. It follows the acquisition of another portfolio in April in a 320-million-euro deal. Galp previously held a predominantly solar portfolio and the wind acquisitions could be the first step to selling the entire portfolio, he says. This is because the combination of wind and solar would likely achieve a better valuation than a solar-only portfolio, Borkhataria says. Shares fall 3.6% to 19.31 euros. (adam.whittaker@wsj.com)

0752 GMT - Chinese memory maker CXMT could capture an 18% global DRAM market share by the end of 2028, say Nomura analysts. The company currently holds around a 10% market share, they say in a note. Its major U.S. competitor, Micron, currently holds a market share of over 20%, but CXMT is expected to approach Micron's levels over time, they add. The overall global memory usage is expected to increase more than seven-fold between 2026 and 2030, driven by the evolution of artificial intelligence, they say. CXMT's stock surged 466% to 49 yuan on its market debut Monday. Nomura initiates coverage on the stock with a buy rating and a CNY116 target price. (jie.yang@wsj.com)

0749 GMT - European energy stocks fall in opening trade after President Trump paused a major escalation in the military campaign against Iran. The U.S. military had been ready Friday to launch an intensive series of strikes against Iran, which could have lasted up to two weeks, officials said. The pause and renewed focus on diplomacy sends Brent crude futures sliding 5.8% to 86.37 a barrel while WTI drops 3.9% to $76.25 a barrel. In London, BP falls 3.5% and Shell slips 1.8%. France's TotalEnergies falls 2.7%, Spain's Repsol is down 2% while Italy's Eni drops 4%. Portugal's Galp, which also reported second-quarter results Monday, was down 4.6%.(adam.whittaker@wsj.com)

0741 GMT - Asia economies may face higher inflation pressure from elevated oil prices, according to Goldman Sachs in a research note. GS maintains its oil-price forecast of $80 per barrel for Brent in 4Q, although the price can go even higher given renewed U.S.-Iran military strikes and potential for a new bottleneck in the Red Sea. "Import prices and producer prices rose sharply across Asia in recent months (though implicit or explicit subsidies have moderated or capped retail fuel prices in some countries)," they say. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0734 GMT - SK Hynix is likely to post record 2Q earnings, driven by one-off investment gains and higher semiconductor prices, Meritz Securities' Kim Sun-woo says. The analyst estimates the South Korean memory-chip maker's April-June pretax profit at more than 100 trillion won--comprising 60.1 trillion won in operating profit and 41.6 trillion won in gains from its stake in Japanese chip maker Kioxia through U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital. That would surpass the company's record operating profit of 58.8 trillion won in 1Q. Bain sold part of its Kioxia stake recently, Kim notes. He adds DRAM and NAND memory chip prices rose 30% and 49%, respectively, in 2Q. (kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2026 05:27 ET (09:27 GMT)

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