Block, Inc.: Management Meeting Takeaways and Re-Hashing Our Thoughts on Cash App Borrow Pricing Changes; Reiterate Overweight Rating

This edition of "Australia First to Market" compiles J.P. Morgan's latest research views on the Australian and New Zealand markets. On companies, we met with Block's management and reiterate our Overweight rating: Square saw strong same-store sales and the highest U.S. GPV in three years, Cash App shows strong inflows and card spend growth of ~20% at scale, and recent Cash App Borrow pricing changes should give XYZ flexibility to grow at least in line with mid-term targets; Square's direct sales ramp continues (we would not be surprised if it surpasses its 300 sales rep goal by YE27) and the Neighborhoods two-sided network roll-out is starting to ramp. On sectors, Meta released Muse, a personal AI agent, in the US on 8 September 2026, which became the most downloaded app on the Apple and Android app stores within three weeks;