Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are trading mixed after a wild day for the major indices on Wednesday. When the final bell rang, the party for the Nasdaq, at least for the meantime, ended with the tech-heavy index closing down 0.83% at 26,363, while the small-cap Russell 2000, which still leads all of the major indices year-to-date, closed at 3,021, down 0.50%. The legacy Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed a stellar day, which was buoyed by a strong performance from chip giant NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction), and printed another record high, closing at 54,349, up 0.73%, while the S&P 500 finished lower at 7,723, down 0.17%. ADP reported that private companies added just 44,000 jobs in July, below the estimate of 75,000 and way below the June print of 95,000. It will be interesting to see whether the non-farm payrolls come in below the expected 83,000 on Friday. A slowing job market could help temper inflation concerns and tap the brakes on a September rate hike.
Treasury Bonds:
Yields were slightly lower across the Treasury curve, but the large-scale buying we saw at the start of the week tapered off sharply on Wednesday. In an odd coincidence, both the 20-year bond and the 30-year long bond closed at 5.17%, while the 10-year note was last seen at 4.62%. The softer ADP numbers likely tapered the buying, and a weak non-farm payrolls number could do the same on Friday.
Oil and Gas:
After a wild few days of hard selling to start the week, the energy complex saw the selling slow. Both of the major benchmarks finished the day lower, with Brent Crude’s final print coming in at $79.24, down 0.15%, and West Texas Intermediate was last seen down 1.10% at $74.94. Given the on-and-off negotiations with Iran, traders and investors are treading cautiously and may continue to do so until a solid final deal is agreed upon. Natural gas also closed down on Wednesday at $2.67, down 0.37%.
Gold:
The precious metals had a big day on Wednesday as the trifecta of a weaker dollar, lower bond yields and oil prices, and positive reports on the Middle East negotiations had investors buying once again. When the final bell rang, Gold closed at $4,245, up 4.16%, while Silver ended the day at $61.88, also up 4.16%.
Crypto:
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports every day to identify fresh investment ideas for investors and traders alike. These daily analyst notes include recommendations on stocks to buy, sell, or avoid, as well as new coverage initiations. No single analyst report should ever be the sole basis for buying or selling a stock.
Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Thursday, August 6, 2026.
Upgrades:
- Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE: CRL) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, which moved the target price to $310 from $180.
- Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, which has a $110 target price for the shares.
- Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Wells Fargo, with a $50 target price.
- Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus, with a $450 target price.
- Sabra Health Care REIT (NASDAQ: SBRA) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James, without a price target.
Downgrades:
- AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, which chopped the target price to $385 from $665.
- HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, which lowered the price target for the stock to $220 from $250.
- Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ: PODD) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, which slashed the target price for the shares to $144 from $255.
- Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Summit Insights, without a target price.
- Zillow Group (NYSE: ZG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, which dropped the target price to $38 from $50.
Initiations:
- Atrium Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RNA) was started with a Buy rating at H.C. Wainwright, with a $25 target price.
- Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ: LYEL) was initiated with a Buy at Stifel, with a $36 target price.
- Immuneering (NASDAQ: IMRX) was initiated with a Buy rating at H.C. Wainwright, with a $14 target.
- Obsidian Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OBX) was started with a Buy rating at TD Cowen, without a target price.
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