The futures were mixed to open up a new trading week, after a spectacular Friday that saw all the major indexes up big. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the winner, closing up almost 2%. Needless to say, the same things that had been driving stocks lower were the impetus for the large move higher Friday: Interest rates finally took a breather and declined. The easing of rates, plus very oversold conditions, and some, albeit small, positive inflation data all combined to provide a nice tailwind for stocks on Friday.
Those Treasury yields dropped across the curve, with the benchmark 10-year note and the 30-year long bond both seeing double-digit declines as the buyers piled in to buy Treasury debt at the highest yields since November. While the short two-year note yield dropped to 4.86% (the Thursday close at 4.90% was the highest since 2006), the wide inversion with the 10-year note, which closed at 3.96%, remained. Bond traders and history both say that this gap is a precursor to a recession.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate both had a strong finish to the week, with WTI closing the day up almost 2% at $79.68. The two benchmarks finished the week strong, and many feel that pricing and demand could soar over the summer. Natural gas was the huge winner, finishing Friday at $3, up almost 9%. Gold finished the day flat, while Bitcoin was pounded again, closing down almost 5% at $22.301. This after trading over the $25,000 level just over two weeks ago.
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, March 6, 2023.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and raised its target price to $180 from $175. The consensus target is $168.21. The shares closed Friday at $151.03, which was up close to 4% for the day on the strong technology tape.
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and has a $720 target price for the stock. The consensus target is just $657.35. The stock closed almost 6% higher on Friday at $632.76 after a strong earnings beat.
Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY): J.P. Morgan’s upgrade to Neutral from Underweight included a target price boost to $211 from $173. The consensus is up at $256.58. The stock closed at $213.18 on Friday.
ChargePoint Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CHPT): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $26 target price. The consensus target is $20.87. Friday’s final trade was for $11.08 a share.
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