The futures were lower as we hit the midway point in the holiday-shortened trading week. Tuesday was another song remains the same day, as once again the Nasdaq led the markets higher, but just barely. And once again Nvidia was leading the charge, closing up over 3%, as the market cap for the tech giant now exceeds $1 trillion. While President Biden and Speaker McCarthy came to a tentative debt ceiling agreement over the weekend, the legislation now must go through both houses of Congress and that may not prove an easy task.
Treasury yields were lower across the board in a big way. Buyers finally showed up, as yields had jumped to two-month highs across the curve last week. With the June Federal Reserve meeting just over two weeks away, and after new data showed last week that one of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauges (the core personal consumption expenditures price index) climbed 0.4% in April (versus 0.3% forecast by economists), the futures markets are now predicting a 60% chance rates are hiked again. The two-year note closed Tuesday at 4.55%m down a whopping 14 basis points, while the 10-year finished the day at 3.70%, keeping the ongoing inversion firmly in place.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were both hammered over 4% lower Tuesday as worries over the debt ceiling and concerns over the upcoming OPEC meeting kept the sellers active. Data that showed gasoline use over the holiday weekend declined from 2022 also was a headwind. Natural gas finished down almost 5% at $2.31.
Gold rallied Tuesday to finish the day higher at $1,978, as Republican congressional pushback on the debt ceiling talks gave the bullion a solid tailwind. Bitcoin also had a solid start to the week, closing up slightly at $27,818.
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 Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade was from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $112 target price. The consensus target is higher at $124.90. The stock closed on Wednesday at $101.73.
ACV Auctions Inc. (NASDAQ: ACVA): BofA Securities raised its $15.50 target price on the Buy-rated shares to $18. The consensus target is $17.58. Tuesday’s final trade came in at $17.15.
Alliant Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: LNT): Though BMO Capital Markets raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform, it also trimmed its $60 target price to $56. The consensus target is $57.50. Tuesday’s close was at $51.01.
Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $295 target price. That is well above the $271 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing print of $238.39.
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