The futures traded lower on Halloween, as we get ready to start a very busy week for earnings and the Federal Reserve November meeting. It is all but assured that rates will once again be raised by 75 basis points. All the major indexes ended higher Friday, led by the Dow Jones industrials and the Nasdaq, both up well over 2.5%.
The big gains came despite a disastrous week for technology in which many of the mega-cap sector leaders posted disappointing results and guidance. The core personal consumption expenditures price index for September came in at 0.5% from the previous month and 5.1% from a year ago, indicating that inflation is still running way above target.
The Treasury market saw selling on Friday across the curve, with the benchmark 10-year note yield moving back across the 4% level. The inversion with the two-year paper stayed in place, despite the sellers hitting the short end as well, closing the note at 4.42%. The inversion suggests to bond traders that recession is lurking.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both close modestly lower Friday, after a solid week overall. Natural gas also ended the week lower, and again the unseasonably warm weather in Europe has been cited for the weakness. Gold closed the day lower, while Bitcoin finished the week on a positive note, up almost 2%.
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 on Halloween Monday, October 31, 2022.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO): Stifel maintained a Buy rating with a $50 target price after the company reported basically inline results. The consensus target for the tobacco giant is $48.83. The stock was last seen on Friday trading at $46.31.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating and lowered its $195 price target to $150. Jefferies reiterated it at Buy but cut its $165 target to $135. Truist Financial maintained a Buy rating and lowered its target to $160 from $170. The consensus target is $167.22. The stock closed on Friday at $103.41, which was down almost 7% on the day, after the company reported disappointing third-quarter results last week.
Amplify Energy Corp. (NYSE: AMPY): Roth Capital’s upgrade was from Hold to Buy with a $12 target. The shares hit a 52-week high of $9.86 on Friday and closed at $9.60.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating but cut the target price to $200 from $220. Citigroup maintained a Buy rating while trimming its $185 price target to $175, while Barclays reiterated an Equal Weight rating and bumped the $155 price target up to $156. The consensus target is $183.59. The stock closed on Friday at $155.74, up close to 8% on the day, as the company was one of the few tech leaders that posted solid results last week.
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