The futures were lower, as Wall Street returns from the long holiday weekend after a shortened trading week that saw the major indexes close higher last Thursday. With the March jobs report out of the way, which actually came in above estimates on Friday, all eyes will turn to earnings reports, which begin in earnest this week with the financial giants on Friday.
Analysts will be watching closely for how companies performed during the first quarter and likely will be even more keen to get direction and guidance for the second quarter and the balance of the year. You can bet that lousy numbers and bad forecasts could trigger some big selling.
After a week of buying that drove yields down across the Treasury curve, yields were flat to slightly higher on Friday, as the bond market was open. The two-year note saw its first move higher in six sessions, closing the week at 3.99%, after hitting the lowest level last week since September of last year. The benchmark 10-year closed at 3.29%. The 70-basis-point inversion still suggests recession is on the way.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed modestly higher on Friday, after a solid week that saw both jump 6% on the OPEC production cut. Toss in some big inventory draws, and the black gold may be set up for a strong move higher. Natural gas was a loser, closing down almost 7% at $2.01.
Gold finished the day slightly lower, after a strong week that saw the bullion finish back over the $2,000 level at $2,018. Central banks around the world keep buying gold, following on last year’s record buying, where banks bought gold at the fastest pace since 1967. Bitcoin closed up at $27,933.
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, April 10, 2023.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL): UBS reiterated a Buy rating and bumped its $120 target price to $123. The consensus target is $125.16. Thursday’s close was at $108.42, which was up almost 4% on the day.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating but cut its $135 target price to $125. The consensus target is $133.58. The stock ended Thursday trading at $102.06.
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