The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

0910 ET - Bitcoin finding its highest levels since May is reshaping how investors are evaluating overall markets. "This year's quiet patch in crypto never reflected a loss of belief in the asset class," says Nigel Green of deVere Group in a note. "It reflected liquidity being pulled elsewhere, into an overheated AI and semiconductor trade." The timing of this while bitcoin has been stuck in rangebound trade all summer is creating the explosive movement, Green adds. "Every one of those pressures is now easing at the same time, and Bitcoin is repricing accordingly." Bitcoin is up 6.2% to $77,194, according to LSEG data. Ethereum rises 2.9% to $2,385, XRP is up 10.8% to $1.37, and solana is up 3.7% to $90.76. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

0540 ET - U.S. stocks linked to cryptocurrencies continue to rise premarket, spurred higher by a surge in bitcoin and ethereum. Investors are increasingly confident in the regulatory outlook for crypto in the U.S., even if the crypto-friendly Clarity Act doesn't pass, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani writes. "The industry expects accelerated rule making for supporting native crypto tokens, tokenized equities, perpetual futures" and other crypto-related activities, Chhugani says. Bitcoin trades up 6.6% at $77,794.84, while ethereum adds 2.7% at $2,389.07. Bitcoin-hoarder Strategy jumps 9.3% premarket, on pace to rise by over 30% since market close Tuesday. Crypto exchanges also gain, with Coinbase and Hyperliquid Strategies rising 6.2% and 3.2%, respectively. Robinhood Markets adds 5.1%.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0437 ET - Alibaba Group is likely to benefit from its artificial-intelligence cloud business, according to Daiwa analyst John Choi in a research note. Losses at its AI labs and applications as well as all other segments will peak this quarter, the analyst says. Daiwa estimates AI labs and apps will see losses decline sequentially thanks to better model training efficiency, improved inference efficiency and lower marketing intensity, he says. Daiwa keeps a buy rating and raises the target price for Alibaba's ADRs to $185.00 from $180.00. The ADRs last closed at $130.53. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0231 ET - Seasonal events and content updates should support NetEase's games momentum, Daiwa analyst John Choi says in a note. Industry watcher Sensor Tower's grossing data has shown a year-over-year growth uptick since June, reflecting solid momentum from evergreen titles such as "Fantasy Westward Journey" and "Eggy Party," he says. This solid momentum should sustain into 3Q, says the analyst, who expects 3Q online games revenue to grow 9% from a year earlier to 24.9 billion yuan. As games gross margin hit 76.1% in 2Q, the bank sees limited room for increases going forward. Daiwa raises NetEase's target price to 260.00 Hong Kong dollars from HK$257.00. Shares are last at HK$199.90. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0214 ET - Alibaba is likely to keep up its artificial-intelligence investment in the long term, according to Citi analysts in a research note. Citi believes Alibaba's management has "confidently articulated" its decision to aggressively increase investment to capture the significant demand in AI. Management views it as a controlled cash-flow trade-off although the asset-heavy AI investment is front-loaded and will weigh on short-term profitability, they say. Citi trims the target price for its ADRs to $189.00 from $190.00. The bank keeps its buy rating on the stock and views Alibaba as a prominent AI play in China. Its ADRs last traded at $130.53. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0058 ET - Weibo's 2H and 2027 profitability will likely be weighed by investment in artificial intelligence, say Citi analysts in a note. While the Chinese social-media company's 2Q results were better than Citi expected, its management flagged challenges including a shift in advertising preference toward higher return-on-investment formats, the analysts say. Weibo is boosting its video-content strategy and allocating more resources to AI to drive long-term user engagement, they add, noting the movesappear strategically sound but could pressure profitability, they add. Citi cuts its rating to neutral from buy and trims its ADR target price to $7.80 from $9.30. ADRs last closed 4.0% lower at $7.19. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)

2340 ET - NetEase's pipeline of new-game launches will serve as the primary steer for its shares, Bernstein analysts say in a research note. NetEase's 2Q results look solid to the analysts as revenue beat market expectations thanks to its games developed in-house. The analysts noted that a trailer for new extraction game "Tamas: Shadowveil" captured 10 million views on Bilibili after the first round of testing was completed earlier this month. "Beneath the Mist," another action-adventure game, is also undergoing beta testing. With a handful of games in NetEase's pipeline, the analysts wonder whether the slowdown in NetEase's new-game-launch cadence in recent years may be nearing an end. Shares are last 1.3% higher at 196 Hong Kong dollars. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

2249 ET - Megaport's ongoing transformation increases both risks and rewards for investors, according to its new bulls at Morgan Stanley. Raising their recommendation on the stock to overweight from equal-weight, MS analysts tell clients that the Australia-listed company's expansion from its core network-as-a-service capabilities means it is now a capital-intensive artificial-intelligence infrastructure and computing provider. They warn that this brings risks around execution, competition, chip cycles and funding. Fortunately, it also increases Megaport's exposure to digital-infrastructure demand that MS believes will significantly outstrip supply. MS doubles its target price on the stock to 25.00 Australian dollars. Shares are down 4.0% at A$18.54. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

2220 ET - Concerns about NetEase's recently launched game "Sea of Remnants" seem resolvable, Barclays analysts say in a research note. After a mediocre launch last month, the analysts reckon that gamers' biggest complaints include a steep learning curve at first, substantial time required for gameplay and not enough in-game rewards. They think these issues are fairly easily to address and the latest update seems to have pushed the game in the right direction. NetEase isn't likely to roll out the game globally anytime soon given focus will be on improving the game, they add. Shares are 0.7% higher at HK$194.80. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

2143 ET - Telekom Malaysia's 2H earnings could be stronger on lower operating costs, says Affin Hwang IB analyst Isaac Chow says in a note. Telekom Malaysia could benefit from stronger investor demand for defensive stocks amid heightened global macroeconomic and local political uncertainties, given its resilient earnings profile, he says. The company's extensive fiber and submarine cable infrastructure should continue to benefit from Malaysia's data center expansion and AI adoption, he adds. Affin Hwang raises Telekom's target price to 9.00 ringgit from 8.30 ringgit, and keeps a buy rating on the stock. Shares are 3.3% lower at 7.83 ringgit. (yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

1401 ET - Transcontinental is entering an operational inflection point, according to TD Cowen's Sean Steuart, who expects a 3Q rebound to break a sluggish first half trend. The analyst projects sequential improvement in 2H, driven by "seasonal tailwinds for the Books & Education segment (H2-weighted) and improved in-store marketing contributions." Following a slow start to the year marked by tough comparisons and lower traditional print volumes, he expects year-over-year adjusted Ebitda growth to resume, rising 5% in 3Q to C$61.2 million and adjusted EPS of C$0.40. What's more, Steuart thinks that the market is underestimating Transcontinental's balance sheet deleveraging, supported by noncore asset sales and strong projected free cash flow yields of 18%. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1259 ET - Micron Technology's new research initiative aims to help the U.S. get a competitive edge in semiconductor and memory innovation, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra says. The semiconductor company's Micron Research Labs will be headquartered in Boise with satellite campuses around the globe, and bring together a number of stakeholders--including customers, academia, government and the broader semiconductor ecosystem--to pursue breakthroughs in memory and AI, he says. The initiative will be "driving America's leadership in semiconductor and memory technology," he says during an appearance on CNBC. The labs will be backed by a planned $10 billion investment over the next decade, the company says.