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

1854 ET - Japanese stocks may rise as fears about disruption to be caused by artificial intelligence abate for now. Nikkei futures are up 0.6% at 56975 on SGX. USD/JPY is at 153.29, compared with 152.88 as of Tuesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's policy steps as well as details of Japan's planned $36 billion investment in the U.S. spanning critical minerals, oil and gas infrastructure and power generation. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4% to 56566.49 on Tuesday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)

1846 ET - Dexus shares gain after Australia's largest office landlord slightly beats expectations for its 1H earnings and readies a share buyback. Jarden says investors had low expectations ahead of the result, which topped market hopes for adjusted funds from operations by 1% due to stronger trading profits. "Buyback of up to 10% should be well received given a proven ability to sell assets around current valuations," analyst Tom Bodor says. Jarden highlights a stark disconnect between Dexus's net tangible assets of A$8.95/security and its stock price. Still, Dexus has balance sheet constraints that need to be managed. Jarden had an underweight call on Dexus and A$7.45/share price target ahead of the 1H result. The stock is up 5.1% at A$6.63. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

1845 ET - The recent outperformance of Suncorp's stock relative to Australian insurance rival IAG could be hard to sustain over the June half, Jarden analysts say. They tell clients that Suncorp's soft December-half revenue was largely expected, with margins held thanks to better control of costs. Full-year guidance for gross written premium at the bottom of a single mid-digit range is seen at Jarden as implying 4% growth, which they observe is lower than consensus for 4.2%. The analysts think that Suncorp's June-half trajectory could be more difficult than the one facing IAG, which has the benefit of its September acquisition of RACQ Insurance. Jarden has a last-published neutral rating and A$18.40 target price on the stock, which is down 0.9% at A$15.83. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1824 ET - Mondelez International is focused on the two ends of the income spectrum. The snack company is trying to adjust prices and offerings to appeal to the customers who are the most cost-sensitive, and those most willing to pay extra for premium quality, Chief Executive Dirk Van de Put says during the CAGNY conference. It is expanding offerings at affordable price points, including adding more $3 snack packs across different brands, he says. At the same time, high-earning consumers are increasingly choosing premium products, which is causing Mondelez is invest more in pricier brands like Tate's Bakeshop, Van de Put says. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1818 ET - National Australia Bank's bear at Citi says much of its 1Q earnings beat stemmed from its lower bad debts, and markets and treasury. Analyst Thomas Strong says that underlying revenue growth of 4% compared with the average of the prior two quarters implies that markets and treasury revenue was up by 30%. The lender's A$170 million charge for bad and doubtful debts is a better result than Strong's forecast of A$249 million. Stripping out those factors, he reckons that NAB's 1Q net profit beat consensus by about 4% to 5%. Citi has a last-published sell rating and A$38.00 target price on the stock, which is up 5.7% at A$47.93. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1807 ET - Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says generative AI will help creators, including by speeding up production times, rather than hurt their job prospects. "It's just as likely that AI tools supercharge creators' ability to tell great stories," he says during an appearance on CNBC, noting it's "far more likely that that's going to be the case than they get displaced by these tools." Still, there's plenty of AI "slop" that likely won't catch on, he says. He expects consumers will favor a combination of AI with intellectual property. "People will flee to quality," he says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1805 ET - Caesars Entertainment doesn't plan to jump into prediction markets any time soon, Chief Executive Tom Reeg says on a call with analysts. The company will hold off at least until there are clearer regulatory guidelines about whether prediction markets should be classified as gambling. "To me, this is clearly gambling," Reeg says. "I think it'll take a couple of years to wind its way through the courts." Reeg says that Caesars' state gaming licenses are some of its most valuable assets, and state decision-makers have made it clear that pursuing prediction markets would put some of Caesars' brick-and-mortar licenses at risk. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1801 ET - Caesars Entertainment Chief Executive Tom Reeg says trouble in Las Vegas is nothing to worry about. "There's really no crisis happening in Vegas," he says. Sales in Caesars' Las Vegas business were down slightly, while its digital and regional segments had revenue increases. But Reeg says weakness is normal cyclicality that will play itself out over time. "I know that the pricing gets focused on social media. I'm sure if I say the wrong thing in the next 30 seconds, I'll read it on Bloomberg or in the Journal tomorrow," Reeg says. "But that's not really what's driving what's happening in Vegas. The center strip is holding up quite well." (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1758 ET - Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says the streaming giant would continue to operate Warner Bros. Discovery's film and television studios and HBO unit largely the same as they are run today if its merger agreement is successful. Netflix would also invest in growth in those organizations, he says during an appearance on CNBC. The deal would create value for Warner shareholders, and just as importantly, would continue to grow the entertainment business, Sarandos says. "The outcome of this deal is going to be very relevant to a lot of players," he says. The comments come after Warner said it will restart deal talks with Paramount, setting the stage for a potential bidding war with Netflix. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1736 ET - Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says the company's move to grant Warner Bros. Discovery a seven-day waiver of certain obligations of their merger agreement in order to engage with Paramount's competing bid is an effort to clear up any confusion for shareholders. Paramount had been "making a ton of noise, flooding the zone with confusion for shareholders, so they don't really understand the deal," Sarandos says during an appearance on CNBC, pointing to Paramount's hypothetical offers and moves to bypass Warner's board to speak directly with shareholders. The week-long waiver aims to give those shareholders "complete clarity and certainty about what the value of these deals are," he says, noting he believes Netflix's deal is superior. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1652 ET - Australian equities are set to rise in early trade after U.S. indices rallied to finish narrowly higher. Australian stock futures are up by 0.5% ahead of Wednesday's session, suggesting that the S&P/ASX 200 could be on track for a third straight gain. The benchmark index has risen 0.2% in each of the past two sessions as many of the country's largest companies reported earnings. Ahead of the open, National Australia Bank said its unaudited first-quarter cash earnings were up 16% on a year earlier amid strong growth in lending and deposit volumes. Insurer Suncorp slashed its dividend. In the U.S., the DJIA, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite all rose by about 0.1%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1617 ET - Sysco has expanded its team of sales consultants and is looking to boost retention after seeing high levels of turnover a year earlier, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Hourican says at the 2026 Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference. He says a stronger sales organization is helping fuel growth. "We're getting our mojo back, if you will," Hourican says. "We're focused significantly on retaining those colleagues, motivating them through compensation and training to increase their effectiveness." He says the company is also using an artificial-intelligence sales tool called AI 360 to improve sales consultants' productivity. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2026 18:54 ET (23:54 GMT)

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