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

1616 ET - The number of AI job postings has roughly doubled in recent years, and those postings carry higher salaries than non-AI roles, though executive-level salaries in the field are retreating, according to analysts at LinkedIn's Economic Graph Research Institute. AI jobs are among the fastest-growing and highest-paying opportunities in the job market right now, with salaries typically around $177,000, compared with $80,000 for non-AI roles, the analysts say. The fastest pay growth has been concentrated in a few roles, including technical staff and forward deployed engineer positions, they say. In contrast, executive positions, such as "Head of AI" or AI Engineer, have remained flat since 2024, and VP of AI roles have seen listed pay decline from highs above $300,000, the analysts say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1551 ET - Live cattle futures on the CME snapped a five-session losing streak, closing up 0.2% to $2.1915 a pound. The Tyson beef plant closures and weak cash prices are the "major headwinds" of that streak, says the Hightower Report in a note -- with the firm projecting that "the recent downtrend may have more to run." Lean hog futures sank 2.3% on the day, to 70.825 cents a pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1454 ET - Deere is likely to report a tough fiscal 3Q results on Thursday, say analysts with Oppenheimer in a note. Difficult agricultural conditions in Europe, as well as supply interruptions due to the U.S.-Iran conflict, are pressuring the agricultural equipment manufacturer. But the situation in North America looks to be better than initially anticipated, says Oppenheimer -- with lower crop yields expected to support higher commodity prices while export demand stays strong. That's lending some light to the outlook for FY2027, and potentially setting up Deere to raise its estimates for F4Q. Deere trades down 1% to $593.92. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1322 ET - Mizuho analysts say they see growing evidence that Uber could ultimately benefit from the rise of autonomous vehicles, which they expect to soothe investors' worries of disruption from companies that actually own AV technology. While Waymo has had success in San Francisco that demonstrates strong product-market fit, a broader AV ecosystem is emerging as Uber partners with WeRide, Pony.ai and other AV players, the analysts say. Continued expansion with those non-Waymo partners "should increase investor confidence that the long-term AV ecosystem is likely to support multiple suppliers rather than a winner-take-all outcome," the analysts say. While diversification may take time, operational data points "reinforce our view AV adoption can expand the overall category without necessarily undermining Uber's platform position," they say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1322 ET - Traffic trends at Macy's are starting to stabilize, offering signs that the chain's strategy of deepening visits at a smaller, upgraded fleet of stores is helping, a recent Placer.ai report says. Macy's year-over-year visit decline narrowed to 3.6% in 2Q, marking a meaningful improvement from 1Q even though it has steadily closed stores, the report says. On a monthly basis, same-store visits slightly outpaced overall visits, suggesting traffic declines are easing at established locations as Macy's continues to streamline and upgrade its fleet, Placer.ai says. By July, same-store visits were just 0.4% below year-ago levels, the report says. "For a chain that has already shown it can grow sales per visit, stabilizing traffic represents an important foundation upon which to build further," the report says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1316 ET - Kohl's same-store visits grew in both June and July, marking the chain's first back-to-back monthly gains in roughly two years, according to a recent Placer.ai report. The hot streak comes after its traffic decline moderated in 2Q to 1.4% from a 7.7% slide in 1Q, the report says. Kohl's has been working to sharpen its positioning as a local, value-focused stop for everyday errands as it looks to buck a downturn across the department store industry, Placer.ai says. "The chain could be poised for sunnier days if visits maintain their early-summer trajectory," the report says. Kohl's is slated to report 2Q results next week.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1306 ET - Ross Stores' 2Q results, slated for later this week, are set for a boost as customers under pressure from inflation and trade uncertainty flock to the off-price retailer, according to a recent Placer.ai report. "Ross's position at the deepest-discount end of the off-price segment has served it well," the report says. Placer.ai says visits to the flagship Ross Dress for Less climbed 16.4% year-over-year in the 2Q, while traffic at sister chain dd's Discounts grew 8.4%. That momentum has strengthened into summer, with visits growth accelerating at both retailers in June and July, the report says. Additionally, because neither of the company's retail chains operate a digital storefront, all shopping activity takes place offline, the analysts note. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1303 ET - Business hiring has shown strength this summer, according to a Bank of America analysis. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, small business hiring plans are at their highest level since October 2022. Additionally, BofA's small business payments data rose more than 20% year-over-year, reflecting strength in hiring. However, the top reported issue in NFIB's survey is labor quality or availability, the report said. Of all owners reporting job openings, 36% reported they could not fill them in the current period -- the highest reading in over a year. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

1242 ET - Prediction market exchange Kalshi says that it's submitted a filing with the CFTC to list perpetual futures for equity indexes. The company describes the offering as "a type of ‌futures contract that would let traders take leveraged long or short positions on stock market benchmarks similar to the S&P 500 without owning the underlying shares." Kalshi says that it is not planning on launching perpetual futures for single stocks in connection to this filing. Crypto exchange Coinbase is also launching equity market perps, today announcing the addition of the US500 perpetual contract to its derivatives exchange. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1239 ET - SoftBank's SB Energy saw a "very competitive process" play out for its 10-gigawatt data-center in Ohio before ultimately signing a deal with OpenAI, co-CEO Rich Hossfeld tells CNBC. SB Energy is serving as a developer for the project, which is expected to become one of the biggest AI hubs to date. It pitched leading hyperscalers, cloud providers and frontier AI labs, Hossfeld says, and received a lot of bids. "Thats emblematic of the demand we're seeing for compute," he says. A joint bid between OpenAI and Nvidia won out, Hossfeld says. OpenAI is paying the lease and Nvidia is the exclusive chip provider, he says. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1205 ET - Mattr is benefiting from the surge in demand for data centers and utilities, which drove backlogs to near-record highs. According to RBC's Sabahat Khan, the company is "well positioned for H2" as data center sales expand into a "growing contributor," expected to more than double in 2026 to about 5% of consolidated revenue. The momentum drove 2Q revenue up 23.4% year-over-year to meet preliminary guidance, alongside a 260 basis-point expansion in adjusted Ebitda margin to 15.8%. Growth was anchored by record output levels at Xerxes, where customer planning horizons now extend to "firm orders for delivery throughout 2027," as well as a 29.1% revenue jump in Connection Technologies. RBC raised its target price by C$9 to C$22. Shares are down 2.5% to C$18.98. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1141 ET - Canadian homebuilding activity plummeted in July to the lowest number of starts in over a year, yet homebuying activity in the country appears to be recovery from the weak start to 2026, says Desjardins' Kari Norman. The economist notes the drop in starts was entirely within the ever-volatile multi-unit segment, while single-family construction was about the same as a month earlier. The six-month trend for starts was essentially flat but still the lowest in 15 months and about half the roughly 500,000 housing starts needed annually to restore prepandemic levels of affordability, Norman says. Still, existing home sales in July rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% on-month and the average national sale price and benchmark price were little changed.