Markets jumped on Wednesday, after the consumer price index (CPI) inflation print came in lower than expected, suggesting that inflation might be finally slowing. Each of the major indexes was up at least 1% in the morning, with the Nasdaq leading the charge higher with over a 2% gain.
CPI for July came in at 8.5%, below the consensus estimate of 8.7%. This was also lower than June’s print of 9.1%, which was a high not seen since the early 1980s.
Much of this downward momentum in CPI is correlated to falling gasoline prices over the past month. The gasoline index dropped 7.7% in July, which was the largest month-over-month drop in this component since April 2020. Note that energy prices fell 4.6% over the past month.
24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Wednesday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Amgen, Coinbase, Micron, Roku, Take-Two Interactive and more.
Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT): Raymond James downgraded the stock to Underperform from Market Perform. The stock traded near $17 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $11.70 to $58.45.
Berkeley Lights Inc. (NASDAQ: BLI): BTIG Research downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy, and J.P. Morgan lowered its Overweight rating to Neutral and cut its $12 price target to $8. The 52-week trading range is $3.65 to $41.92, and shares traded near $4 apiece on Wednesday.
iHeartMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: IHRT): The Goldman Sachs downgrade to Neutral from Buy included a price target cut to $9 from $15. Shares have traded as high as $27.02 in the past year but were near $9 on Wednesday, which is down more than 58% year to date.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO): Deutsche Bank lowered its Buy rating to a Hold with a $324 price target. The 52-week trading range is $251.01 to $407.94. Shares changed hands near $319 apiece on Wednesday.
Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA): D.A. Davidson’s downgrade was to Neutral from Buy. The 52-week trading range is $77.01 to $276.30, and the share price was near $106 Wednesday.
Rackspace Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RXT): Raymond James downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform. The 52-week trading range is $5.63 to $18.50, and shares were trading near $6 on Wednesday.
RealReal Inc. (NASDAQ: REAL): As BofA Securities downgraded it to Underperform from Buy, the firm also cut its $7 price target to $2.75. The 52-week trading range is $2.11 to $17.09. The stock traded near $3 on Wednesday.
Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO): Argus downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy. The stock traded at around $85 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $77.14 to $373.00 a share.
Vertex Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNR): Oppenheimer’s downgrade was to Perform from Outperform. The stock traded near $7 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $3.30 to $18.10.
With demand still strong and prospects for the industry bright, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are loading up on big oil stocks now. See which eight stocks with large and dependable dividends make sense for growth and income investors now.
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