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

1434 ET - Truist analysts expect that Meta's new AI assistant, Muse, will add $28.5 billion in incremental revenue by 2030 under a base case scenario. They say in a note that Muse represents "the clearest attempt yet to build a non-ad revenue stream to complement its ad juggernaut and show ROI against its large CapEx." Meta surges 12% after the app to access the AI agent reached No. 1 in Apple's App Store. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1423 ET - The recovery in Canada's home resale market looks to be losing steam and activity remains low by historical standards, National Bank's Daren King and Evelyne Gosselin say. Sales fell 0.7% on-month in August, snapping a five-month streak of increases. King and Gosselin say a major headwind looms. Canadian and U.S. bond yields have surged since the start of the Iran war, yet mortgage rates haven't fully kept pace which has significantly squeezed lenders' margins. A rise in fixed-rate mortgage rates is therefore highly likely in the coming weeks, the pair argue. And sooner or later rising financing costs will weigh on affordability and undermine an already precarious recovery, unless geopolitical or trade tensions ease, they say. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

1416 ET - Meta is making the right strategic bet by emphasizing trust in Muse's pitch, Truist analysts say in a note, pointing out that the consequences of AI agents making mistakes or eschewing instructions can be high. Still, they say, the company's reputation might make the pitch challenging. "Muse asks consumers to trust Meta with more personal data than social media ever did, and it arrived twelve days after Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 29 states over social media harms to children," they say. "For a product whose entire pitch is trust, this is not the most favorable launch context." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1353 ET - Cracker Barrel's year-over-year visit declines have narrowed, with weekly trends now running roughly in line with the overall full-service restaurant category, says R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai in a note. Foot traffic was down more than 12% last December from a year ago, but in August, visits were only down 3.4% versus a year ago, according to Placer.ai data. "The trajectory suggests consumers have moved past last year's rebrand and are responding to the brand bringing back past menu favorites, introducing new limited-time offers, and leaning harder into value," Hottovy says. Cracker Barrel is slated to report F4Q results Wednesday. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1350 ET - Darden Restaurants' full-year outlook still looks achievable, Baird analysts say in a research note. Despite concerns that rising gas prices will cause a consumer spending pullback, the analysts say they haven't seen any signs of softer casual dining trends. "We believe Darden is well positioned to sustain healthy comp growth in a range of economic scenarios," they say. The analysts note, though, that they aren't expecting Darden's management team to quantity quarter-to-date trends. Instead, management is more likely to express its confidence in the resilience of the casual-dining occasion. The owner of LongHorn Steakhouse and Olive Garden is scheduled to report quarterly results Thursday. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1328 ET - The AI trade is continuing to find strength with chip makers gaining strongly. Meta is also up 10% helped by the popularity of its Muse AI agent, the most downloaded free iPhone app in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower. The ubiquity of AI has prompted questions about liability, with the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic signaling that the U.S. government may need to take an active role in regulation. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says on CNBC, that he doesn't agree. "What did they try to do last week? It was, 'Well there's a 10% chance that we could destroy the world, but we want the government to give us a liability shield.' That's good business for them, bad business for the American people." (patrick.sheridan@wsj.com)

1250 ET - Abu Dhabi leads major Gulf stocks lower, with its benchmark index falling 1.6%, while Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index declines 0.6%. The Dubai Financial Market General Index and Qatar's QE Index each edge up 0.1%. Abu Dhabi's sharper decline is partly index-driven, as heavyweight International Holding Company falls 4.6%, reversing much of Friday's 4.8% rally and weighing heavily on the benchmark, says Milad Azar, market analyst at XTB MENA. Broader weakness reflects risk reduction amid heightened regional uncertainty, while differences in market structure and positioning are driving divergence across Gulf markets, he says. (farhan.rafid@wsj.com)

1238 ET - Investors are itching to know when the pace of large bank M&A will resume in earnest, JPMorgan analysts say in a research note. "While larger deals are not occurring at the same pace as last year, bank M&A is expected to persist as institutions seek greater scale, lower operating costs, and opportunities to enter new markets and acquire deposits in a healthy manner," they write. As it stands, the outlook for higher interest shouldn't derail progress in the deal pipeline, given that most of the industry players already weathered and steeled themselves from challenging macroeconomic conditions. There's likely still a transformation deal (or two) out there, with many investors expecting it to come before the end of the current administration. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1221 ET - Stifel analysts expect Nike to report higher-than-expected revenue in its latest quarter, largely thanks to tailwinds from the World Cup. However, the highly promotional retail environment that the company is currently operating is likely to weigh on margins and pressure profitability, they add. "Our hang-up on risk-reward remains on insufficient consumer demand for new products," the analysts write. Weak demand has caused many of Nike's legacy product lines to continue to shrink, even as the company has beaten its own revenue guide in each of the past seven quarters. "A new CFO and the Nov. 16-17 Investor Day give management no incentive to raise expectations near-term," the analysts say. Stifel cuts Nike's earnings forecast ahead of the company's F4Q report next week. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1139 ET - Private-equity firms have reduced their investments in software compared with previous years, favoring asset-heavy businesses whose products and services are considered less prone to replacement by artificial intelligence, according to a report by the law firm Sidley Austin. The technology sector represented roughly 13% of value of U.S. buyouts this year through June, down from an average of about 30% in the five-year period through last year, Sidley says. "The pullback in activity also illustrated potential vulnerability in software valuations," the firm says. It adds that instead of resolving valuation disputes through negotiation of deal financials, "buyers and sellers now increasingly disagree on [the] more fundamental question" of how vulnerable a software business is to AI-driven disruption. (luis.garcia@wsj.com)

1129 ET - Artemis Gold's acquisition Vista Gold adds scale and a pathway toward 1 million ounces of annual gold production. TD Cowen analyst Wayne Lam says in a report "the acquisition providing ARTG with the addition of a large scale growth project and pathway towards 1 Moz of production annually," noting that the additional reserves at Mt Todd of 5.2 million ounces at 0.94 grams of gold per ton and total resources of 10.6 million ounces at 0.83 grams per ton. Shares of Artemis are trading 6.1% lower at C$38.52, and Lam says this could be due to "questions around timing of advancement/construction given current build out of the C$1.44B EP2 [expanded phase 2] expansion." Vista Gold shares are up 15% to C$3.69. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1108 ET - Anheuser-Busch is investing $23 million in its brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado to boost production of Michelob ULTRA. The investment is part of a $600 million planned U.S. investment package across 2025 and 2026, and will allow the brewery to produce 25-oz cans of Michelob ULTRA to meet growing demand, the company says. Anheuser-Busch is also opening a new training center for technical skills at the brewery, part of its plan to upskill more than 90% of its manufacturing workforce in the next five years, according to the company.