Global Equities Roundup: Market Talk

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

1127 ET - Bitcoin is up 0.5% to $81,568, turning around along with the Nasdaq Composite after tech and AI stocks slumped the prior day. While bitcoin has felt that pressure, the fact that it's managed to stay above the $80,000 mark is a point of optimism for cryptocurrency investors, says James Butterfill of CoinShares in a note. "Bitcoin has remained relatively resilient this week despite another bout of volatility across risk assets." Butterfill says that the fundamentals for bitcoin remain mostly balanced, but "a surprise October hike would likely be more disruptive than a well-signalled December move" from the Federal Reserve. The Fed will decide whether to hike or leave interest rates unchanged in its meeting next week. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1121 ET - Prediction markets for elections strengthen democracy by giving voters more skin in the game, PredictIt CEO John Phillips says at the NEXTPredict summit in New York. Platforms like PredictIt, the privately held subsidiary of Aristotle Inc., serve as an "engagement booster on steroids" that will get voters even more interested in election outcomes and the political process, Phillips says. The CEO is pushing back on concerns that prediction markets for elections can deteriorate the democratic process. (dean.seal@wsj.com)

1101 ET - President Trump seems to be pleased with Bombardier's $270 million investment in the U.S. following weeks of heightened trade rhetoric against the Montreal-based business jet maker. In a Truth Social post, Trump says Bombardier is "creating THOUSANDS of American Jobs in Kansas, Texas, and Indiana." While the new initiative is expected to create a total of 800 new U.S. jobs directly, the company already had a significant footprint in the country, supporting 27,200 direct and indirect U.S. jobs in 2025 across its service network, manufacturing facilities and supply chain. Bombardier estimates every Bombardier job supports seven additional jobs across the broader U.S. economy through supplier purchases and consumer spending. With its latest hiring and capital push, the company expects its total US. job footprint will exceed 33,000. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1026 ET - American Express's layoff announcement is the latest in a string of similar ones among other sizable companies this week. E-commerce platform eBay shared plans earlier this week to cut 9% of its employees, following a previous round of cuts announced this year. And earlier Friday, Swedish carmaker Volvo said it would slash about 6% of its workforce. Amex plans to cut about 5% of its global workforce. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

1024 ET - Gold prices trade just above $4,000 a troy ounce, on track for a weekly loss of nearly 4% as rising oil prices fuel concerns over inflation and rate hikes. In early U.S. trading, futures in New York are down 0.9% to $4,022.80 an ounce. "The latest price action suggests that short-term speculative selling is currently outweighing demand from longer-term investors," analysts at Saxo Bank say. "A sustained recovery will likely require stabilising energy prices, continued demand from central banks and ETF investors, and, not least, evidence that the recent wave of long liquidation has run its course." (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

0953 ET - American Express plans to cut about 5% of its global workforce, a plan that Chief Executive Stephen Squeri says is aimed at reducing layers and speeding up decision making. "We've got good momentum, but to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years, we needed to become a more agile and efficient organization," Squeri says during a call with analysts. Squeri says the move will help the company's teams align on key focus areas, boost efficiency and invest further in its priorities, like adding more perks for its cardmembers. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

0919 ET - Booz Allen Hamilton logs lower revenue in F2Q, largely due to a nearly 11% decrease in billable expenses from last year, CFO Troy Lahr says on a call with analysts. From an end market perspective, the company's national security business grew 1% from a year ago, reflecting strong customer demand. "We have a significant backlog of funded work to execute on and have aggressively scaled up our hiring," Lahr says. Meanwhile, Booz Allen's civil business declined 15% year-over-year, as contracts in the business are now generally smaller in size and scope, and there have been fewer new program starts. "Looking ahead for the rest of the year, pressure in the civil business is easing, and we now expect revenue to be flat to slightly down sequentially for the third and fourth quarter as some of the first-half dynamics gradually ease," Lahr says. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0914 ET - Booz Allen Hamilton continues to operate in a bifurcated market, Chief Operating Officer Kristine Martin Anderson says on a call with analysts. "National security continued to grow, while civil remained in transition," she says. Booz Allen is seeing strong demand in its national security business, prompting the company to quickly ramp up new awards and scale its cyber and defense-technology products. The company expects growth across the business to accelerate in the second half of its current fiscal year, Anderson says. "Turning now to civil, our focus is on rebuilding the portfolio and gaining momentum," she continues. Trends across the business have improved somewhat, with the company expecting civil's year-over-year decline to moderate in the second half of the fiscal year. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0908 ET - American Express beat Wall Street's estimates for 3Q earnings and raised its full-year outlook. In short, "the headline is good," according to Truist analysts. But "the details are more mixed," Brian Foran and Erin Kim say. The company's guidance factors in a better-than-expected third quarter, rather than implying upside in the fourth quarter, and growth in its billed business is a little light, the analysts say. However, overall the company is growing its top line by 10% and its bottom line by 15%, which "doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world," they say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

0859 ET - In July, Booz Allen Hamilton CEO Horacio Rozanski predicted there would be some uncertainty surrounding the federal budgeting process as the government's fiscal year came to a close. Now, Rozanski says his prediction came true: "We did see those dynamics play out during the second quarter," he says on a call with analysts. However, continued momentum across Booz Allen's national security portfolio helped offset the uncertainty plaguing its civil business, Rozanski says. "Demand for advanced technology solutions and products remains strong, driven by the growing urgency to transform the nation's most critical missions," he says, adding that Booz Allen is innovating and investing to meet those needs. Shares climb 0.5% premarket after the company raises its full-year earnings outlook. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0847 ET - Saab reported a mixed third quarter, with order intake and net sales exceeding expectations, while the operating margin was largely in line, SB1 Markets analyst William Alexander Balksten writes. Organic growth of 30.6% indicates that the company is expanding its delivery capacity faster than the market had anticipated, he says. "Nevertheless, we expect a muted share price reaction," the analyst adds. "Profitability within the dynamics business area raises questions." The dynamics operating margin dropped to 14.3% versus the expected 18.4%, due to higher development costs and a less favorable product mix. Expectations for the dynamics margin in the fourth quarter appear high, while the sales forecast for the surveillance unit looks conservative, Balksten says. Shares rise 0.6% to 638.40 kronor. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0841 ET - Saab's third-quarter revenue, EBIT and earnings per share exceeded Inderes's expectations. The weak point was the dynamics unit, which saw operating profit fall on higher R&D costs and product mix, Inderes analyst Christoffer Jennel writes. Organic growth accelerated to 31% in the seasonally weakest quarter due to the surveillance and naval units, and the operating profit margin rose to 9.5%, Jennel says. Order intake and cash flow also exceeded expectations. "Saab maintained high delivery volumes throughout the summer while improving its profitability, which strengthens the picture of the company's execution ability and provides room for upside in our forecasts." Shares rise 0.7% to 639.50 Swedish kronor. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 23, 2026 11:27 ET (15:27 GMT)