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

1859 ET - Australian stocks look to be on course for a third consecutive decline, which would round out a weekly loss. Local equities futures are down by 0.4% ahead of Friday's open, pointing to an opening slip for the S&P/ASX 200. The benchmark index remains on course for a fifth straight monthly rise, but is down by 0.8% so far this week. Ahead of the open, insurer QBE reported a 1.1% rise in first-half profit and lifted its dividend. U.S. stocks rose after interest-rate fears eased on a report of moderated wholesale inflation. The DJIA rose 0.1% and the S&P 500 added 0.65%, closing at a record. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1815 ET - Sales to China played a role in boosting Applied Materials' revenue in the third quarter, and are expected to keep growing, CFO Brice Hill says on a call Thursday. Across the company's two main segments--semiconductor systems and applied global services--China represented 26% of revenue, he says. The company's China revenue should grow this calendar year, boosted by investments in the 28-nanometer foundry-logic process, Hill says, and continue growing next year. Shares are off 5% at $508.00 after-hours. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1352 ET - Cisco's F2027 guidance for AI revenue is "appropriately conservative" given that the company reported $9.3 billion in AI infrastructure orders in F2026 and just $4 billion in AI infrastructure recognized revenue, according to UBS in a note. The guidance for $7.5 billion in FY27 AI revenue, up from $6 billion, also leaves room for upside, the analysts say. "Our analysis of orders and backlog suggests the implied 2H FY27 growth rate could be understated by at least 5 percentage points," they say. "We therefore see any share-price weakness as an attractive buying opportunity, as we expect the mkt to ultimately underwrite growth 500 basis points above initial guidance." Cisco falls 9%. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1310 ET - Traders should focus on Cerebras Systems' "core" results, CEO Andrew Feldman says in a CNBC interview, referring to adjusted metrics that exclude items such as data-center pass-through revenue and costs. "We didn't do ourselves any favors in our communication. I think we could have done better, and I think we will do better in the future," Feldman says when asked about possible confusion between the reported and core metrics. The core numbers are better for year-over-year and sequential comparisons, and are insulated from "things outside our control or one-time events," Feldman says. On a core basis, revenue grew 103%, to $209.9 million, beating Wall Street's expectation of $190.6 million. Still, shares are down 15% midday Thursday. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1309 ET--Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins pushed back on the suggestion that the company's fiscal 2027 guidance is too modest. The company projected revenue between $72.2 billion and $73.4 billion, representing 14% to 16% growth above its fiscal 2026 revenue of $63.33 billion, and ahead of Wall Street's expectation of $69.12 billion. "The analysts were looking for 9% growth," Robbins says in a CNBC interview. "It was kind of funny to me that they were looking for 9% growth, we gave them 15%, and they said, 'Why are you being so conservative?'" The company is being somewhat prudent given the start to the new fiscal year, but all its business areas are currently seeing tailwinds, Robbins says. Shares are down 9%. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1237 ET - A.P. Moller-Maersk beat earnings expectations for the second quarter and raised its full-year guidance, as congestion at major Chinese ports supports the freight-rate outlook, Bernstein analysts say in a research note. The Danish shipping group raised its full-year guidance for the second time in less than three months, and congestion at some Chinese ports like Shanghai and Ningbo seems to be driving this, the analysts say. "This was largely the result of higher realized freight rates, and the company is effectively suggesting this remains strong" into the second half, they add. Shares close 9.4% higher, their best one-day percentage gain since May last year. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1235 ET - Shares in DHL owner Deutsche Post have experienced a rally over the past year, which means investors now expect the company to deliver earnings growth, Citi analysts say in a research note. A strong second-quarter performance from the German logistics group--also known as DHL Group--was partly supported by tight capacity due to the Middle East conflict, but boosted both consensus expectations and investors' confidence nevertheless, the analysts say. Citi cuts its recommendation on the stock to neutral from buy, but raises its target price to 59 euros from 58 euros. "While the underlying recovery remains broad-based across the business, DHL now appears fairly valued, with future upside increasingly reliant on the delivery of earnings growth," the analysts say. Shares close 0.3% higher at 55.48 euros. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1223 ET - A jump in Adyen shares in response to a guidance upgrade that stems from two recent acquisitions suggests investors' fear is coming out of the Dutch payments company's stock price, AlphaValue's Quentin de Villeneuve says in a research note. Adyen reported strong first-half results, with volumes and net revenue slightly ahead of consensus estimates, the analyst says. While Adyen hadn't formally upgraded guidance, it had disclosed the Talon.One and Orb deals would contribute to its top-line growth, he adds. "Investors were fearing a growth slowdown. By boosting its revenue guidance through inorganic growth, Adyen gave the market the number it wanted to see," de Villeneuve says. Shares close 16% higher, their biggest one-day gain since February 2024. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1214 ET [Dow Jones]--Cerebras Systems' selloff following the company's second-quarter results represents a buying opportunity, both UBS and Morgan Stanley analysts write in notes. For Morgan Stanley, Cerebras can unlock upside by executing on compute capacity and successfully commercializing disaggregated inference solutions with AMD and Amazon Web Services. Despite the volatility, they write, "we see little in the quarter that gives us pause." UBS analysts also underscore the importance of ramping capacity, and note that new platforms will free up room for upside next year after margins bottom out in the third quarter. Cerebras is down 12% at $230.42. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1208 ET - Members of Germany's DAX blue-chip index posted their fastest earnings growth rate for the second quarter since at least the first quarter of 2024, according to Deutsche Bank. DAX companies' aggregate year-over-year earnings growth accelerated to 11% last quarter from 5% the prior quarter, equity and cross-asset strategists at Deutsche Bank say in a research note. "Most sectors contributed positively to growth, with industrials accounting for the largest part. Chemicals benefited from a major base effect. Growth in financials slowed compared to previous quarters and autos once again weighed substantially on growth," they say. Sales growth at DAX companies recovered to 3%, and would have reached 8% excluding the auto sector, according to Deutsche Bank. The DAX closes 0.1% lower. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1158 ET--The post-earnings selloff of Cerebras Systems shares "largely misses the forest for the trees," Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson writes in a note. He sees the volatility as a result of high expectations going into the print, as well as the company reporting a sequential dip in hardware sales and leaving fourth-quarter expectations roughly unchanged. But these factors are secondary to Cerebras's broader story, Bryson writes. "Cerebras's success will be dictated by its ability to gain meaningful share over time (we believe it will) in the extremely large growing market for accelerators," he writes. "We believe Q2 earnings told us little about this journey, with next week's Supernova event a more likely positive catalyst for the stock." Cerebras falls 14%.

1158 ET - Drugmakers are delaying or forgoing the launch of new therapies in Switzerland due to a new U.S. policy, Swiss pharma-industry group Interpharma says. Switzerland is one of the countries the U.S. uses as a benchmark for its policy to lower drug prices and align them with those in other developed nations. Between January last year and June this year, Interpharma members declined to submit seven of a total of 22 new medicines for reimbursement by Swiss health insurers, Interpharma says, citing an internal survey. To avoid jeopardizing prices in the U.S., pharma companies held off on submitting one in three new medicines they developed, according to Interpharma.