The futures were trading higher, after an impressive snapback rally Friday turned south once again after the noon hour amid reports of a cyberattack on U.S. hospitals. All the major indexes once again closed lower. The renewed selling hit the tape despite July’s nonfarm payrolls report that came in below estimates, while the May and June numbers were revised lower. Strong earnings from Amazon were a positive for the risk-off crowd initially on Friday, as investors took advantage of the big selling last Wednesday and Thursday.
While the data and earnings are positive for sure, inflation could start to come in stronger as energy prices continue to trade higher. With the dog days of August upon us, Wall Street will likely see lower volumes as Americans get ready to wrap up the summer with final vacations and outings, as school in some parts of the country begins this week.
Treasury bonds rallied Friday, after last week’s big sell-off, and maturities across the curve saw yields fall by as much 13 basis points. The cooling jobs numbers and the massive selling last week were cited as positives for the government debt. The 10-year note closed on Friday at 4.04%, while the two-year paper closed at 4.77%. With this inversion remaining in place, recession is still not out of the question.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both had a strong Friday, closing out the best week for the energy complex since mid-April and completing a six-week winning streak for the black gold. Saudi Arabia announced it will continue its 1 million barrel per day production cut through September and indicated it could stay in place longer. Brent finished the day up 1.01% at $86, while WTI closed on Friday at $82.82, up 1.56%. Natural gas was modestly higher at $2.58.
Gold also rallied on Friday, as investors took advantage of a slow week for the bullion and the December contract closed at $1,976.80, up almost 8%. Bitcoin finished a sour week down 0.50% to close at $29,030.40.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each weekday 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 Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, August 7, 2023.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Exane BNP Paribas raised its Underperform rating to Neutral and has a $140 target price. Rosenblatt’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a target price hike to $184 from $111. The consensus target is $144.28. The shares closed up over 8% at $139.57 on Friday due to stellar quarterly results.
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Oppenheimer kept its Outperform rating and has a $280 price target. The consensus target is $250. On Friday, the shares closed up almost 6% at $243.28 in the wake of a solid quarterly report.
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