The futures were trading lower at the start of a new trading week that will feature an avalanche of the top companies in the S&P 500 reporting second-quarter results. After a strong week, the major indexes closed lower on Friday, with only the Dow Jones industrials posting a gain on the day. While the major banks kicked off the earnings parade with solid results on Friday, there is a lingering sense that the recent rally is way overextended and some stocks, especially the tech giants that have led the charge, could be ready to see some serious profit taking.
Treasury yields were higher across every maturity after a flurry of buying in the safe-haven debt on the very tepid inflation numbers posted last week had driven yields to highs not seen since March. The benchmark 10-year note closed Friday at 3.83%, up seven basis points, while the shorter two-year paper ended trading at 4.77%, up a whopping 16 basis points.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude also saw the sellers come in after a solid week for the crude oil benchmarks. Both closed down over 2%, with Brent finishing at $79.66 and WTI at $75.26. The selling came despite the fact that the rig count once again fell, with the total count finishing the week at 675, which is 81 less than this time last year. Natural gas closed flat on Friday at $2.54.
Gold closed modestly lower on Friday at $1959.60, after a solid week for the bullion. Top analysts noted that after a rough stretch, some bullish sentiment is slowly but surely starting to reemerge in the sector. In addition, after a huge Thursday, Bitcoin gave it all back Friday, closing down just shy of 4% at $30,235.40.
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, July 17, 2023.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and raised its $130 target price on the shares to $150. The consensus target is $134.68. The last trade on Friday was for $134.68 a share.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): J.P. Morgan’s downgrade to Neutral from Overweight included a target price cut to $17 from $22. The consensus target is $20.32. The stock closed on Friday at $14.50, down over 4% on the day over concerns that the company may face a huge contamination clean-up.
Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD): Morgan Stanley boosted its Underweight rating to Equal Weight and its target price to $75 from $69. The consensus target is $79.33. Friday’s close was at $71.85.
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