The futures were trading higher Monday, after another big sell-off Friday, when all the major indexes closed lower as the quarterly quad witching options and futures expiration pumped up the volume and the volatility. There is an excellent chance, with just two weeks left in the trading year, and one being shortened due to the Christmas holiday, that tax loss selling is starting to emerge, and it could start to increase in a big way in the coming days.
Treasury debt yields were mostly higher across the curve as sellers returned, quite possibly on the option and futures expirations. The benchmark 10-year note and 30-year bond both backed up five basis points in yield. The inversion between the 10-year and the two-year remained at the widest in 40 years, as the former closed at 3.48%, and the latter at 4.18%.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed down over 2%, as the contracts for both rolled over on Friday as well. Brent is now trading below where it was at the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Natural gas also finished the day down just over 5%. Gold ended Friday higher, while Bitcoin was down almost 3% and closed below $17,000.
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, December 19, 2022.
Agilysys Inc. (NASDAQ: AGYS): BTIG Research upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has an $83 target price. The consensus target is $74.00. The stock closed on Friday at $76.50, up close to 9% for the day, on no specific news we could find.
Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $96 target price. The consensus target is $103.22. Friday’s close was at $68.58.
Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE: BRX): Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to Outperform from Peer Perform and has a $29 target price. The consensus target is $24.13. The shares ended on Friday at $22.14.
CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $175 target price. That compares with the $180.50 consensus target and Friday’s closing trade of $131.95.
Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the popular discount retailer and has a $285 price objective. The consensus target is lower at $265.48. The stock closed on Friday at $248.25.
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