Restaurants Look to Old Favorites to Boost Traffic — Market Talk

1243 ET - Restaurants are bringing back menu items and marketing from the past in a bid to win over today's consumers with nostalgia, Deutsche Bank analysts say in a note. Taco Bell and Buffalo Wild Wings have rolled out throwback menus inspired by their offerings from years ago, while Starbucks brought back its Unicorn Frappuccino for just one weekend to drive its biggest North America sales weekend ever, the analysts say. Other chains are getting in on the action too, with Olive Garden relaunching its Never-Ending Pasta Pass for the first time since 2019, Burger King offering its Crown Nuggets for a limited time after a more than decade-long hiatus, and McDonald's bringing back Spicy Chicken McNuggets for the first time since 2024, they say. ([email protected])1210 ET - Prediction market exchange Kalshi has filed a new proposal to the CFTC to allow for the implementation of FX perpetual futures. These would include perp contracts for the USD and euro, adding for Kalshi's stable of available perp contracts. "The FX market is the largest financial trading market in the world," says a spokesperson for Kalshi in a note. "BIS's latest comprehensive survey found $9.6 trillion of average daily FX turnover in April 2025, up 28% from $7.5T/day in 2022." Kalshi has been the target of litigation challenging prediction markets, contending that they're just gambling with investment-sounding terminology. "[We have] supported state efforts to protect consumers from unregulated gambling from the get-go," says CFTC watchdog Better Markets in a note Friday. ([email protected])1202 ET - SLB's acquisition of Kelvion adds scale and breadth to its data-center business strategy, Melius Research analysts James West and Sanskriti Reddy say. The deal is expected to double SLB's revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivered capacity. SLB's business was already on track to hit a $2 billion revenue run-rate or more by the end of 2027, the analysts say. Kelvion adds $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion of data center revenue alone, they note. SLB now anticipates data center revenue will be $4.5 billion to $5 billion, which the analysts say is roughly 10% of total company revenue. Shares are up 2.6%. ([email protected])1159 ET - A streak of investor capital coming back into bitcoin ETFs was snapped on Friday, according to data from CoinGlass. An outflow of $201.9 million was recorded for bitcoin ETFs on Aug. 28, breaking a two-week streak of inflows into those ETFs. ETF activity has been an indicator of institutional investor interest in cryptocurrencies, which has been low through the first-half of the year as money flowed into more lucrative assets like AI and semiconductor stocks. Investor risk appetite has since changed, making assets like bitcoin and gold more attractive to institutional money - although bitcoin appears to have found resistance around the $80,000 mark. It's down 0.1% to $78,530. ([email protected])1123 ET - Algonquin Power & Utilities' sale of its stake in Chilean water utility Suralis to Toesca for $126.5 million is a positive step toward streamlining its geographic footprint. Scotiabank's Robert Hope says the sale of its 64% stake supports "management's ongoing focus on its core U.S.-regulated utility operations." While the business represented about 4% of Algonquin's revenue, the analyst estimates the effects on EPS to be "neutral." It does, however, improve Algonquin's credit metrics, he adds. Hope thinks this might be the first of a number of other noncore divestitures, including "Bermuda utility (BELCO - $525m rate base) and smaller water utilities." ([email protected])1110 ET - Ethereum has posted big gains in the latter-half of the summer, but it appears that the cryptocurrency has found stiff resistance at the $2,500-mark. It's being viewed as a key test for if the rallying seen in ethereum - which has gained nearly 30% in the past week-and-a-half alone - has any more room to run. "A successful move could fuel further upside, otherwise Ethereum may need to consolidate its recent gains," says Bret Kenwell of eToro in a note. Traders appear to be embracing consolidation today. Ethereum is down 1% to $2,467, while bitcoin falls 0.2% to $78,457, XRP is down 1.5% to $1.38, and solana falls 1.2% to $103.47. ([email protected])1059 ET - Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" has been a game changer for IMAX, Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey says in a research note. The film's IMAX cumulative total box office gross has reached nearly $450 million, an unprecedented figure that will likely continue to climb after the movie is released in Japan next month, he continues. "'The Odyssey' should support what we expect to be an exceptionally strong 3Q26 for IMAX," Hickey says. "More importantly, we believe the film's success could rewire filmmaker and studio behavior by demonstrating the commercial value of designing and shooting major event films for IMAX." The movie's IMAX performance could be transformative to the company's long-term positioning and growth potential, especially after WSJ reported in May that IMAX was exploring a sale. IMAX is up 77% over the past 12 months. ([email protected])1051 ET - Dubai leads most major Gulf stock markets lower as renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran adds to geopolitical uncertainty in the region. U.S. forces attacked two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, marking the first American strike on Iran in weeks. The Dubai Financial Market General Index falls 0.8%, Qatar's QE Index drops 0.6%, Abu Dhabi's benchmark index declines 0.4% and Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index falls 0.3%. ([email protected])0859 ET - Treasury yields rise alongside crude prices following a U.S. military attack against Iran over the weekend. Brent is up 3%, at $91 a barrel. Markets price 64% odds of a Fed hike in September, according to CME, reacting to Chairman Warsh's hawkish statements on Friday. Economists surveyed by WSJ expect August payrolls to increase by 50,000, following July's 23,000 decrease, with unemployment steady at 4.1%. The data are due Friday. The 10-year yield reaches 4.754%, up from 4.710% overnight. The two-year rises to 4.344% from 4.232%. ([email protected]; @ptrevisani)0838 ET - Odds for a September rate hike rose to nearly 60% Friday after Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's speech, but the future of Fed tightening could depend on upcoming August data, according to a BofA Securities in a note. "We aren't declaring victory yet, since very soft Aug data could still change the picture. But absent a material downside surprise, the onus is now on Warsh to deliver a Sep hike," analysts say. The August jobs report will be released this Friday. The July report was much weaker than analysts were expecting, having some economists question the underlying strength of the economy. ([email protected])0815 ET - Oil futures rise after the U.S. attacked Iranian rocket launchers, renewing military action in the Persian Gulf for the first time in weeks. "The longer geopolitical uncertainty and supply disruptions continue, the tighter the market gets, keeping upward pressure on crude," Nikos Tzabouras of Tradu says in a note. But the U.S. may have limited appetite for broader military action with its shift in focus to economic measures against Tehran and its enablers, he adds. Although below prewar levels, crude is finding its way out of the Middle East and with lower consumption the market could return to balance, he adds. WTI is up 3.4% at $86.21 a barrel, and Brent is 3.1% higher at $90.85. ([email protected])0654 ET - Royal Bank of Canada's solid quarter, including a wealth management-driven beat on net interest income, prompts Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to lift its target on the shares to C$324 from C$316. Yet it views the strength of the bank's franchise to be largely reflected in the valuation, with the stock trading at 15.8 times expected fiscal 2027 earnings. It therefore reiterates a market perform call. KBW raises its forecast for fiscal 2026 earnings per share by C$0.40 to C$16.38 and for fiscal 2027 by C$0.45 to C$17.95. ([email protected])