The futures were higher, as we prepare to start another week of late summer trading, which as usual in August will continue to slow to a crawl as we get closer to Labor Day. The major indexes closed mostly lower on Friday despite the massive July jobs report, in which some 528,000 jobs were added, clobbering expectations for 250,000. While it seems counterintuitive when adding jobs seems positive for the economy, the reality is that any chance that the Federal Reserve will take its foot off the interest rate pedal was squashed Friday by the strength of the report.
All eyes this week will be on the July consumer price index report, which comes out before Wednesday’s opening bell. Should it come in hot like June’s numbers, the rate hike chatter could move from the current 50 to 75 basis points range to a full percentage point for the September hike.
Yields across the Treasury curve shot higher on the jobs numbers, with the five-year note up a stunning 20 basis points, after two weeks of heavy Treasury buying. As mentioned, red-hot inflation numbers this week again will just enforce the hawkish Fed narrative.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed flat Friday, after giving up some solid early gains. Analysts cited demand destruction due to recession fears, as oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Natural gas closed just under the $8 mark, while gold ended lower and Bitcoin was up over 1%.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, August 8, 2022.
Allegheny Technology Inc. (NYSE: ATI): Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to Outperform from Peer Perform and has a $33 target. The consensus target is $33.43. Friday’s close at $29.02 was up almost 6% for the day after second-quarter results came in above estimates.
Ball Corp. (NASDAQ: BALL): Deutsche Bank downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy and cut the $81 price objective to $65. The consensus target is $83.94. Friday’s was at $56.36, down almost 5% on the day, after the company missed earnings expectations last week.
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