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

1004 ET - The European Central Bank's interest-rate hike to 2.5% was "unavoidable" with inflation in the eurozone currently above 3%, president of Germany's Ifo Institute Clemens Fuest says. Given that the economy remains quite weak, the rate increase comes at an inopportune time for Germany, he says. However, with core inflation--an underlying measure that strips out more volatile energy and food costs--also well above 2%, the ECB had no choice but to act, he adds. Headline inflation in the eurozone was 3.3% in August, while it was 2.9% in Germany. Risks remain to the upside for inflation, the ECB said. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)

1001 ET - The U.K. aviation system has stabilized significantly, analytics company Cirium says, after an outage at the country's air-traffic-control systems grounded hundreds of flights earlier in the week. Of the 3,028 flight arrivals scheduled at U.K. airports on Thursday, 54 have been canceled or aren't operating, according to Cirium. For departures, 47 flights out of a total of 3,033 are affected, Cirium says. This is slightly higher than on a normal day, the aviation-analytics firm says. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0932 ET - Bitcoin falls sharply on the release of U.S. inflation data. The producer-price index rose by 0.4% in August, in line with economists' forecasts. Bitcoin falls 1.8% to $76,866.11. Ether also falls sharply, dropping 2.1% to $2,415.76. Markets increased their bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike next week, with the probability of a quarter-point increase rising to 69.6%, according to LSEG. The prospect of higher interest rates makes non-yielding assets like cryptocurrencies less attractive. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0926 ET - Kongsberg Gruppen is becoming a full-spectrum missile-led defense prime contractor, with favorable geographic diversification, Deutsche Bank analyst Sriram Krishnan writes. Rapid capacity expansion and an all-time-high backlog could help the company become one of Europe's fastest-growing and most profitable defense companies, Krishnan says. Meanwhile, margin upside remains relative to conservative management targets, he adds. The bank says the missile business should see around 40% compound annual growth to 2030 to become the group's largest business. This is complemented by 30% compound annual growth for high-margin air defense and remote weapon stations, and 12% growth for the high-tech underwater and space businesses. The bank initiates coverage of the stock with a buy rating and target price of 360 Norwegian kroner. Shares rise 2.5% to 306.80 kroner. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0918 ET - The Netherlands intends to procure a Saab GlobalEye surveillance aircraft, reinforcing Pareto Securities' conviction that GlobalEye is becoming the preferred airborne early warning and control system across NATO member states. No order value has been disclosed, but recent orders imply around 5 billion Swedish kronor per aircraft, including ground equipment, training, and support. Pareto says the announcement is separate from NATO's stated interest in 10 aircraft, and therefore should sit outside market expectations. Saab also said that deputy CEO Anders Carp will head the Dynamics unit, and head of strategy and technology Marcus Wandt will lead Aeronautics. "We view the changes as positive as both appointments put senior group-level leadership over the two segments with the heaviest delivery ramp-up and increases focus on innovation." Shares rise 0.6%. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0917 ET - European stock indexes turn negative after Brent crude oil topped $105, heightening inflation concerns for the continent. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 slides 0.6% to trade at its lowest level since July 8. Technology stocks are the sharpest fallers, with a sector gauge dropping 1.9%. Energy-intensive industrials and aerospace stocks also slide. London's FTSE 100 drops 0.4% even as oil majors gain, with miners bearing the brunt of losses. Copper and silver miner Antofagasta falls 5.8%. Germany's DAX falls 0.55%. AI-linked infrastructure group Hochtief tumbles 6.1%, while Adidas falls 3%. In Paris, the CAC 40 falls 0.4% as luxuries continue to shed value. Bellwether LVMH loses 1.1%. The semiconductor-dominated AEX falls 0.5% in Amsterdam, with ASML--Europe's most valuable company--dropping 3%. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0915 ET - The Electrolux sales and manufacturing joint ventures with Midea remain on schedule, with the sales venture expected to start contributing to the group from the fourth quarter, Deutsche Bank analyst John Kim writes. The bank recently met with Electrolux management and it says other takeaways include that restructuring programs are also progressing to plan while there has been limited change in end-market demand. Some cost pressure is expected in the second half from higher energy prices, it adds. Deutsche Bank rates Electrolux at hold with a 33 Swedish kronor target price. Shares fall 0.5% to 26.66 kronor. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0913 ET - After raising its key rate to 2.5%, hiking rates further would mean that the European Central Bank sees restrictive monetary policy as necessary, ING's Carsten Brzeski says in a note. The economy has proved resilient this year, but that is different from an overheating economy that needs restrictive policy, he says. "We still find it hard to see--amid public finance woes and surging bond yields--that the ECB would really be willing to add more fuel to the fire," Brzeski notes. The bank isn't likely to be willing to risk a recession to tackle what is still a supply-side shock, but the ECB has made policy mistakes before, he says.(edward.frankl@wsj.com)

0914 ET - Shares in London mining stocks are down in afternoon trade as Brent crude tops $105 a barrel and hostilities between the U.S. and Iran escalate. Higher oil prices will add costs to energy intensive miners who are some of the worlds largest consumers of diesel. Higher oil prices also raise the prospect of interest rate rises to combat inflation. This would hurt investment and consumer sentiment, and drag on demand for mined minerals and metals. Anglo American falls 5.4% while BHP's London shares are down 4.7%. Rio Tinto's slip 3.25%. Glencore slides 3.4% while copper miner Antofagasta falls 6%. (adam.whittaker@wsj.com)

0913 ET - The ECB's interest-rate increase will be painful for many companies to absorb, even though the move is understandable given persistent price pressure, says Volker Treier, the DIHK German chamber of commerce's trade chief. Treier urges the German government to "finally implement" measures to stimulate investment and growth, with higher rates likely to make financing investments more expensive. "This would particularly affect small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to invest in new machinery, digitalization, the use of AI, energy efficiency, and-fundamentally-the transformation of their business models," Treier says. (sarah.sloat@wsj.com)

0907 ET - Yields on U.K. 10-year government bonds, or gilts, accelerate after U.S. producer price index data came in stronger-than-expected. The annual PPI rose 5.4% in August, above the 5.3% consensus forecast by economists in a WSJ poll. The data raises inflation worries and the prospects of the Federal Reserve increasing rates in the coming months. Ten-year gilt yields climb 8 basis points on the day to 5.348%, highest since 2007, LSEG data show. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0906 ET - European energy stocks trade higher in afternoon trade as oil ticks above $105 a barrel. Brent crude trades 4.5% higher at $105.80 a barrel while WTI tops $100 a barrel after rising nearly 5%. The rally comes as traders assessed escalating attacks on Gulf shipping and renewed Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. In London, BP gains 2.5% and Shell rises 2%. Norway's Equinor is up 2.4%. Spain's Repsol, France's TotalEnergies and Italy's Eni all rise over 1%.