Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are trading flat after a solid day on Wall Street Tuesday, when all major indices finished higher. The big day is today, when the Federal Reserve’s top inflation indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, will be released this morning at 8:30 AM EDT. Economists expect the Core PCE report to show a 0.2% monthly increase and a 3.3% annual rate. Consensus estimates project headline inflation to ease to around 3.6% or 3.7% annually. Anything drastically higher could speed up a rate hike in September. After the close, all eyes will be on NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) and its quarterly earnings, which will likely move the market one way or the other. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the gains yesterday ahead of the NVIDIA results, closing at 26,151, up 0.66%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 closed Tuesday at 3,010, up 0.50%. The S&P 500 ended the session at 7,677, up 0.32%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 53,555, up 0.26%.
Treasury Bonds:
Despite controversy and a range of views on Treasury Secretary Bessent’s plan to buy long-dated U.S. government bonds, yields fell across the curve as bond traders continue to snap up some of the highest-yielding debt in years. At the close, the 30-year yield came in at 5.16%, while the 10-year benchmark note traded at 4.63%. Both are down 10 basis points from recent highs.
Oil and Gas:
Crude oil tumbled Tuesday as profit-taking returned, as analysts cited a shift in U.S. positioning toward Iran from a military stance to an economic one. That eased fears of a protracted military conflict in the region, though sizable U.S. forces will likely remain there. Brent Crude closed at $86.68, down 3.95%, while West Texas Intermediate was last seen at $80.79, down 5.96%. Natural gas also had a positive session, closing the day at $2.79, up 0.32%.
Gold:
Gold continued its winning ways Tuesday as the precious metals complex surged higher, as traders pointed to the weaker U.S. dollar and the Treasury buyback plan as a tailwind for the sector. Gold closed at $4,658, up 0.17%, while Silver finished the day at $68.81, down 0.38%.
Crypto:
Bitcoin briefly blew past $80,000 on Tuesday; the short-covering rally continued, reaching a three-month high above $81,200 before easing back to trade around $79,300 to $79,400 later in the day. Analysts pointed to renewed concerns over U.S. government debt, ongoing inflation concerns, and a pull-back in the U.S. dollar, which drove investors back toward scarce assets like gold and bitcoin following the recent U.S. Treasury bond buyback announcements. At 8 AM EDT, Bitcoin is trading at $78,400, while Ethereum was quoted at $2,461.
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. Important reminder: 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 Wednesday, August 26, 2026.
Upgrades:
- argenx (NASDAQ: ARGX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, which boosted the target price for the stock to $1,400 from $960.
- DT Midstream (NYSE: DTM) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, with a $145 target price.
- Neogen (NASDAQ: NEOG) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, which nudged the price target to $14 from $13.
- SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ: SEDG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS, which raised the target price to $42 from $36.
Downgrades:
- Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist Financial, with a $135 target price.
- EPAM Systems (NYSE: EPAM) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan, with a $120 target price.
- GoDaddy (NASDAQ: GDDY) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan, with a $120 target price.
- Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America, which lowered the target price for the shares to $360 from $400.
- TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, which cut the target price for the popular discount retailer to $145 from $180.
Initiations:
- Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) was initiated with an Outperform rating at RBC Capital, which has a $215 target price objective.
- Axogen (NASDAQ: AXGN) was started with a Buy rating at Truist Financial, with a $60 target price.
- Jersey Mike’s Subs (NYSE: JMKE) was started with a Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs, with a $26 target price.
- JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG) was started with an Outperform rating at RBC Capital, with a $118 target price.
- Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC) was initiated with a Buy rating at Benchmark, with a $160 target price.
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