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

1937 ET - Uni-Asia Group's valuation may be "too inexpensive to ignore," in view of its strong earnings outlook, UOB Kay Hian says. The investment company, which is involved in shipping and property businesses, is likely to gain from strong demand for heating in 4Q during the northern hemisphere winter. Many countries are looking to ship alternative fuels as gas prices soar, UOB says. In addition, global supply-chain congestion, which has contributed to high freight rates, could also boost Uni-Asia's shipping business, it says. UOB maintains a buy rating and a S$2.34 target price. Shares closed at S$1.37 on Wednesday. (justina.lee@wsj.com)

1935 ET - Japanese stocks are lower in morning trade, dragged down by energy and shipping stocks following drops in crude oil prices and the yen's appreciation overnight. Oil explorer Inpex is down 5.2%, oil distributor Eneos Holdings is 2.8% lower and major shipper Nippon Yusen is off by 4.9%. Meanwhile, Eisai is 6.0% lower as the prospects of its Alzheimer's drug being approved in Europe dim. Any developments over Japan's fiscal stimulus and other economic initiatives are being closely watched. The USD/JPY is at 114.17, down from 114.91 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 0.4% at 29573.33. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)

1921 ET - First Resources' earnings are likely to be steady despite reporting below-expected nine-months net profit, UOB Kay Hian says, maintaining the stock's hold rating. The palm-oil producer's 4Q earnings will likely be driven by rising crude palm oil (CPO) prices and better downstream contribution, the brokerage says. Management also retains its fresh-fruit-bunches production growth guidance at 0%-5% for 2021, aided by production recovery and higher yield. The brokerage raises the stock's target price to S$1.65 from S$1.40, to factor in expected higher CPO prices in 2022-2023. Shares closed 0.7% lower at S$1.50 on Wednesday. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)

1849 ET - Japanese stocks may decline on continuing concerns about higher costs of raw materials due to supply-chain disruptions and as the yen strengthens overnight. Nikkei futures open down 170 points at 29535 on the SGX. USD/JPY is at 114.18, down from 114.91 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on any developments related to fiscal stimulus and other economic initiatives that might be taken by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4% to 29688.33 on Wednesday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)

1736 ET - Breakthrough technologies to enable carbon-neutral steel may not be ready at a technical and commercial scale for some time, BlueScope's Chairman John Bevan says in AGM speech notes. "We see a possible pathway for future low emissions steelmaking in hydrogen-based direct reduction of iron, which would then be melted in a renewable energy powered furnace and fed into the steelmaking process," but the time needed to develop such processes is why BlueScope is meantime assessing a reline of a mothballed blast furnace at Port Kembla, he says. Bevan says BlueScope is nonetheless focused on how it can decarbonize, as "taking action on climate change is critical to our success." (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

1732 ET - Australian stock futures are pointing to a flat open for the S&P/ASX 200. ASX futures are down by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, at 7368. The benchmark ASX 200 is coming off consecutive losses having slipped 0.7% on Commonwealth Bank's biggest tumble since March 2020. Ahead of the open, Treasury Wine said it will buy US luxury winemaker Frank Family Vineyards for $315M, Altium said it would revise guidance after a strong start to its fiscal year, and Aristocrat Leisure raised its final dividend. US stocks fell after earnings from big retailers. The S&P 500 lost 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3%, and the DJIA slipped 0.6%. (stuart.condie@wsj.com; @StuartLCondie)

1728 ET - Nvidia says its play on the metaverse that it calls Omniverse is winning early adopters. Its Omniverse Enterprise software, a set of tools that can be used to create online worlds, has seen "incredible" initial market reception, CFO Colette Kress says. Employees at more than 700 companies are evaluating the platform, and more than 70,000 individual creators have downloaded the tools since its open beta launch late last year, she says on an earnings call. (meghan.bobrowsky@wsj.com)

1723 ET - Canadian stocks end lower on Wednesday amid broad-based sell offs led by the healthcare sector. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index falls 64.14 points or 0.3% to 21653.02 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 Index slips 0.3% to 1303.07. Goodfood Market shares plummet 26% after the company swung to a 4Q loss as the effects of reopening and seasonality weighed on revenue. Fairfax Financial Holdings shares rise 6.7% after it said it would sell two tranches of nearly 5% interest in a U.S.-based subsidiary to fund a $1B buyback. Lithium Americas shares rise 4% after it said it would buy Millennial Lithium for a total consideration of around US$400M in cash and stock.(kimberly.chin@wsj.com; @mskimberlychin)

1659 ET - Networking-equipment giant Cisco pointed to strong demand across the business with product orders up 33% from the year earlier, which company officials said marked the third consecutive quarter of accelerating order momentum and the strongest demand in more than a decade. Remaining performance obligations and annualized recurring revenue both grew 10%, company officials said. "In Q1, we had robust growth and continued strong demand despite the very dynamic supply environment," Chief Executive Chuck Robbins said in a statement. Cisco shares drop 4% as 2Q guidance misses Wall Street targets. (maria.armental@wsj.com; @mjarmental)

1653 ET - Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress says the US Federal Trade Commission has expressed concern about the company's plan to buy Arm. "We are engaged in discussions with the FTC regarding remedies to address those concerns," she says as the company posts strong 3Q results. Nvidia has defended the deal and, Kress says: "We continue to believe in the merits and benefits of the acquisition." Nvidia investors are focused more on results, though, than regulatory challenges, sending shares 3.5% higher in after-hours trading. (meghan.bobrowsky@wsj.com)

1650 ET - Streaming service HBO Max is on track to hit AT&T's expectations, Finance Chief Pascal Desroches says. Last month the company said it expects to reach the higher end of its HBO Max/HBO global target of 70M-73M subscribers. Desroches, speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, says additions in international markets are strong and "that trends are in line with AT&T's expectations." He adds that early data suggests that HBO Max is "quickly rising to become a top two direct-to-consumer provider in terms of subscribers and revenues" internationally. AT&T released a summary of Desroches's comments following the conference. (robert.barba@wsj.com; @barbawire)

1612 ET - Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, remain at the top of the list when it comes to minting company founders, while Harvard moved past MIT, according to PitchBook's data. But the biggest movers in the annual ranking came from abroad: with University of Toronto moving up six spots, China's Tsinghua University up five spots and the University of British Columbia up three spots. Among MBA programs, Harvard, Stanford and University of Pennsylvania retain the top three spots, while Spain's IE Business School rose five spots to debut on the ranking, tying with Dartmouth College. The rankings, which attest to the role of Bay Area's universities as a tech feeder, are based on the number of founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding from Jan. 1, 2006, through Oct. 31, 2021. (maria.armental@wsj.com; @mjarmental)