The futures traded mixed to start the new trading week, after a horrible Friday that followed up a dreadful Thursday to end the week. By now most everybody is aware of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank last week, which was taken over by regulators after an old-fashioned run on the bank by its venture capital clientele. What started as an attempt to raise capital ended with $175 billion in customer deposits now controlled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, after the bank was shut on Friday by California regulators.
Treasury yields were crushed Friday, due to a rush to safe haven by investors who immediately scooped up short maturity government debt. Like most banks, Silicon Valley had the lion’s share of its deposits in Treasury and mortgage debt, a huge amount that it purchased before the gigantic rise in yields over the past year. When requests for withdrawals accelerated, the bank was forced to sell many of the bonds it held and took a reported $2 billion loss.
The stunning rush to Treasuries dropped the two-year yield on Friday to 4.59%, down an incredible 31 basis points. The short paper has closed over 5% on Wednesday last week. The 10-year note yield fell 22 basis points to close at 3.70%. The benchmark security traded over 4% last week. While the inversion between the two narrowed from over 100 basis points to the closing 89 basis points, it still suggests a recession is headed our way.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were winners to close the week, with both closing up on Friday well over 1%. It was noted during the day by analysts that OPEC+ oil production fell by 80,000 barrels per day in February. Natural gas took it on the chin Friday, closing down 4.4% at $2.43. Gold also caught a big safe-haven bid, closing up over 2% on the day, while Bitcoin was lower by 1% to close at $20,159. The cryptocurrency giant was over $25,000 three short weeks ago, a stunning 25% decline since.
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 13, 2023.
Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT): Barclays downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight but raised its $96 price target to $105. The consensus target is $99.80. The closing share price on Friday was $96.06, which was down close to 5% for the day.
Ameresco Inc. (NYSE: AMRC): Piper Sandler raised its Neutral rating to Overweight and boosted its target price to $64 from $57. The consensus target is $65.54. The stock closed 4% higher on Friday at $46.05 after the upgrade.
Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET): The Zacks Bull of the Day has consistently delivered strong quarterly results, points out the analyst. Shares last closed at $146.46, and the $167.62 consensus price target would be an all-time high.
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