The futures were mixed on Friday, and investors and traders will be more than happy to put this wacky week behind them. All the major indexes once again were pounded lower early on Thursday but reversed late morning to close higher. The culprit initially was the European Central Bank, which surprised Wall Street and the rest of the world by raising interest rates by 50 basis points. Many expected 25 basis points or perhaps even a pause, with the ongoing issues at Credit Suisse, which was tossed a $53 billion lifeline loan from the Swiss Central Bank. Many now feel that the ECB increase could pave the way for the Federal Reserve to continue hiking at the end of March.
Treasury yields were all over the place, as some investors continued to seek security in the safe haven trade of government debt while others sold bonds and took some solid gains on Thursday. The benchmark 10-year note rose nine basis points to close the day at 3.59%, which is still the lowest since early September. The short two-year note closed the day at 4.23%. While the inversion between the two securities has narrowed dramatically over the past few weeks, the anomaly still signals a recession is on the way.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate rallied off lows posted early Thursday, and both of the benchmarks ended only modestly lower, after being down 2% and trading at the lowest levels since September of 2021. This came despite oil production falling in January and Goldman Sachs lifting the firm’s outlook for China’s economic growth this year. Natural gas also closed flat on the day.
Investors continued to charge into gold, as they have for the entire week as the potential for systemic banking issues continues to loom. The bullion closed Thursday up $11.90 to finish the trading day at $1,931. Bitcoin continued a wild roller-coaster week, up 2.3% to close at $24,935. Strategists continue to point to the ongoing banking crisis as the tailwind from the cryptocurrency giant.
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 St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17, 2023.
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $400 target price. The consensus target is $387.29. The shares closed on Thursday at $353.29, which was up close to 6% on the day after solid numbers for the quarter beat analysts’ estimates.
BioMarin Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating with a $140 target. The consensus target is $122.76. The stock closed up over 6% on Thursday, thanks to positive clinical data.
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