The futures traded higher on Friday, after a massive across-the-board rally that saw all the major indexes soar higher Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the big winner, closing up a stunning 7.35%, which comes as no surprise after the damage inflicted on the top stocks in the sector after third-quarter earnings.
Thursday’s rally was a result of the October consumer price index numbers, which while still very high, came in below Wall Street estimates. The year-over-year number was 7.7% versus 7.9% estimates, while the core CPI increased by 0.27%, the smallest monthly increase since September 2021. Top economists speculated this gives the Federal Reserve some latitude to drop the December rate increase to 50 basis points after four consecutive 75-basis-point increases this year.
Another component of the rally was interest rates dropping dramatically across the Treasury yield curve as buyers jumped to grab bonds. Yields dropped by a stunning 34 basis points on the five-year note and 32 basis points on the benchmark 10-year note, which closed at 3.83%, after trading at 4.33% less than a month ago. The bond market is closed for the Veterans Day holiday.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both traded higher on the day, with Brent closing back in on the $95 level. Natural gas also took part in the move higher, closing up almost 5% at $6.16. The lower inflation numbers offered a tailwind for the energy sector as well. Gold continued its push higher, up 2.85% to close at $1,755, while Bitcoin tacked on a nearly 13% gain to $17,855, after hitting the lowest level since 2020 earlier this week.
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 Friday, November 11, 2022.
Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI): Raymond James raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform and hiked the $183 target price to $200. The consensus target is $92.52. The last trade Thursday came in at $73.62 a share.
AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV): Raymond James upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform with a $100 target price. The consensus target is $98.33. The shares closed almost 14% higher on Thursday at $92.50 on the upgrade and the market rally.
Alteryx Inc. (NYSE: AYX): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating with an $80 target price. The consensus target is $69.97. Thursday’s close at $47.44 was up 14% on basically nothing new except the rally.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO): UBS’s downgrade was from Neutral to Sell with a $38 target. The consensus target is $49.03, and the stock closed on Thursday at $44.15.
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