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

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. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)

1134 ET - AutoCanada delivered better-than-expected topline and earnings results in 2Q, driven by higher vehicle sales and market share gains in June. Still, overall profitability remains squeezed by vehicle margin pressures and sell-off of older used car inventory, Khan says. RBC analyst Sabahat Khan notes that gross profit per unit will stay under pressure through 3Q, with normalized trends expected in 4Q and into 2027 once inventory is right-sized. Meanwhile, AutoCanada is strengthening its balance sheet by selling its U.S. dealership portfolio and raising over C$106 million so far to pay down debt-and expanding its higher-margin Canadian collision repair footprint. RBC raised its price target to C$24, maintaining an sector perform rating. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1123 ET - Visits to T.J. Maxx and Marshalls during the recent quarter were generally in-line with last year's levels and comfortably outperformed traditional apparel's 3.5% year-over-year decline, according to a recent Placer.ai report. "Still, their softer momentum relative to Ross may point to some pullback in the more discretionary, treasure-hunt side of the off-price experience," the report says. The location-analytics firm notes that both T.J. Maxx and Marshalls skew toward higher-income shoppers and have somewhat higher price points, potentially leaving them more exposed when consumers rein in discretionary spending. Higher gas prices may have also weighed on store visits, Pacer.ai says, prompting more consumers to skip the drive and shop online. TJX is scheduled to report earnings ahead of Wednesday's opening bell. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1117 ET - Amer Sports received a nice tailwind to profit thanks to a one-time net tariff refund. The quarter's gross margin increased 710 basis points to 65.8%, "primarily driven by a one time net tariff refund benefit of $64.3 million or 390 basis points," CFO Andrew Page says in an earnings call. This gave EPS an 8 cent boost. Excluding the tariff windfall, underlying gross margin still expanded by over 300 basis points, "driven by favorable pricing product channel and region mix." The refund, from Section 301 submissions, directly enabled management to raise full-year gross margin guidance to 60.5%-61%. For the remainder of 2026, Amer Sports assumes existing Section 301 tariff rates will stay in place, with further refund impacts expected to be negligible. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1102 ET - Saudi banks delivered higher second-quarter earnings despite slower credit growth, as better pricing supported income, Al Rajhi Capital says. Aggregate net profit rose 8% on year and came in 4% above consensus, while net funded income increased 9%, helped by improved margins and liquidity conditions. Loan growth was a more modest 7%, and the three largest banks lowered their 2026 loan-growth guidance as they shift their focus toward value over volume, the brokerage says. A 38% increase in provisions limited the benefit to earnings, leaving the sector with a mixed set of results. (farhan.rafid@wsj.com)

1059 ET - The recovery in tourism to the Gulf from outside the region remains slow and could stay weak for some time, Capital Economics says. Concerns about renewed conflict and flight cancellations risk continuing to weigh on travel by non-GCC visitors, says William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. Spending in Bahrain on cards issued outside the Gulf is down around 40% from a year ago, while spending on GCC-issued cards has largely recovered, he says. If the weakness persists, tourists could increasingly shift to destinations including the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, with Morocco and Thailand also potential beneficiaries, Jackson says.