The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1744 ET - Sandfire Resources gets a new bull as buzz builds around its Kalkaroo and gold project in South Australia. Jefferies upgrades Sandfire to buy, from hold, citing Kalkaroo as a material growth opportunity for Sandfire. It sees potential for a mine producing between 74,000 and 90,000 tons of copper equivalent annually by 2031. Construction costs, including for a plant capable of processing up to 15 million tons of ore, would be between US$1.47 billion and US$1.77 billion. Jefferies raises its price target by 5.6% to A$19.00/share. It currently includes a A$618 million valuation of Kalkaroo. Sandfire ended Tuesday at A$15.21. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1731 ET - Australian stock futures are pointing to an opening advance despite a soft lead from U.S. equities and a rebound in oil prices. ASX futures are up by 0.6% ahead of Wednesday's session, suggesting that the S&P/ASX 200 will add to Tuesday's 0.2% rise. The benchmark index faded after rising by as much as 1.7% in early trade, but still snapped a three-day losing streak that had pushed it to a 10-month low. Ahead of the open, Rio Tinto said it had reached a A$2 billion deal with lawmakers to keep open its Boyne aluminum smelter in eastern Australia. In the U.S., the DJIA lost 0.2%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite gave up 0.8%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1642 ET - KB Home says recent geopolitical tensions add another headwind that could keep potential homebuyers on the sidelines. "Concerns surrounding the conflict in the Middle East have introduced an additional layer of uncertainty for consumers who were already working through numerous challenges," Executive Chairman Jeffrey Mezger says. Still, the company believes it is well positioned to navigate the current environment, Mezger says, given its personalized homebuilding services and financial flexibility. In the company's latest quarter, profit and revenue both slid, and the company delivered 14% fewer homes compared to a year ago. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1635 ET - GameStop has nearly doubled its cash and securities as CEO Ryan Cohen is talking about making a big acquisition. The company said in its fiscal fourth-quarter release that its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities jumped to $9 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $4.8 billion the year before. Cohen told WSJ in January that he was interested in making a big acquisition to help boost GameStop's market value. His comments came shortly after the board altered his compensation package to give Cohen extra incentives if he increases GameStop's value and profitability. Profit and sales declined in the fourth quarter. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1632 ET - Underlying air travel demand is robust even as the war in Iran drives up fuel prices, AAR says. "We are closely following the conflict in the Middle East and are in constant contact with our customers," the aviation services company says in its fiscal third-quarter earnings release. "Fundamental demand for air travel remains extremely strong, and we are the preferred solution for the markets we serve." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1627 ET - The world will require an estimated $106 trillion in investments to meet its infrastructure needs in the next 14 years, according to McKinsey & Co. Capital is needed not only for "traditional assets such as roads, ports, bridges and power grids but also for the next generation of those assets, [as well as] data centers, charging stations, fiber-optic networks, and more," the consulting firm says. Private-market fund managers are stepping up, having raised a record of nearly $200 billion for infrastructure-focused strategies last year, as infrastructure is the asset class to which investors most want to increase allocations, McKinsey says. Such strategies, however, face hurdles such as longer holding periods, higher debt costs and rising asset prices, it adds. "The ability to drive value creation will become increasingly foundational." (luis.garcia@wsj.com; @lhvgarcia)
1604 ET - U.S. stocks end broadly lower as headlines out of the Middle East show slow progress at best toward ending the fighting. The U.S. is expected to deploy additional troops to the area, though a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran hasn't been made. Iran pressed its assault, hitting Israel as well as Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with fresh attacks. Brent crude futures climb back above $100 a barrel, while the dollar climbs along with Treasury yields. DJIA falls 84 points, or 0.2%, to 46124, the S&P 500 loses 0.4% to 6556 and the Nasdaq drops 0.8% to 21761. (patrick.sullivan@wsj.com)
1458 ET - Palantir Technologies is gaining a stronger foothold within the Defense Department, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives says in a note, citing a report that the Pentagon selected Palantir's Maven Smart System as its official program of record. Palantir "is now one of the main providers and beneficiaries of AI investments being seen across the Trump Administration," Ives says. Palantir will likely continue to notch more deals across the federal sector given its offerings appeal to the U.S. government's efforts to navigate a complex geopolitical environment, Ives says. Palantir will continue attaching itself to many Department of Defense programs, and gain more IT budget dollars, Ives says. "This designation represents another opportunity for PLTR to capitalize while continuing to generate unprecedented traction for its entire portfolio across the federal landscape," Ives says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1404 ET - Demand for premium-priced food delivery is uncertain this year, and could falter if pressures on consumer spending intensify, Baird analysts say in a note. The growth of delivery sales per location for restaurant chains was modest last year and likely helped by higher prices, with transactions appearing to fall as some consumers grew more selective with their spending, the analysts say. Most restaurant companies have looked to address higher costs of delivery with price increases, which may have hurt demand growth but should allow the industry to grow the delivery channel over time, they say. Going forward, if trends like rising gas prices and signs of a softening labor market continue, an increasing number of consumers could opt for lower-priced alternatives like eating at restaurants or carrying out, the analysts say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1347 ET - Ecolab is better positioned to meet data center builder demands for enhanced cooling systems after its $4.75 billion acquisition of CoolIT Systems from KKR, according to Stifel in a note. CoolIT, a pure-play data center liquid cooling company, complements Ecolab's $1.8 billion acquisition of water treatment company Ovivo's electronics business, the analysts say. Adding CoolIT "should allow ECL to enhance its 'Cooling-as-a-Service' offering by combining CoolIT's engineering technology with ECL's expertise in water, chemistry, fluid management, digital monitoring, and global scale," the analysts add. "The combination of CoolIT (liquid cooling) and Ovivo (water circularity) now allows ECL to offer end-to-end water solutions across both microelectronics and data centers." Ecolab is up 1.7%.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1323 ET - Victory Capital's bid for Janus Henderson relied on financing that was far from certain, says Janus Henderson. The offer would need $1.3 billion of cash from Victory's and Janus Henderson's balance sheets. "That is cash that may not be available in a downturn or as a result of deterioration in Janus Henderson's business due to key client and employee concerns about a transaction with Victory, Janus says. Additionally, the combined company would be drastically levered compared to its peers and there is risk that Victory's one financing bank pulls out, especially given the "likelihood of client and employee attrition resulting from Victory's hostile approach," Janus says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
1317 ET - Janus Henderson says that its clients were concerned about potential cuts Victory Capital would make after completing the merger between the two companies. "Achieving Victory's $500 million synergy target will require extensive cuts that will impair the Company's ability to retain investment professionals and maintain Janus Henderson's high standards of client service," Janus says. Investment staff responsible for over one-third of Janus' run-rate revenue threatened to resign if Janus agreed to a sale to Victory. "A firm that cannot retain its talent gives its clients no reason to stay," Janus says. Additionally, clients expressed concerns about Victory's service model, systems, risk management, compliance, back office and client services. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 24, 2026 17:44 ET (21:44 GMT)
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