The futures were trading lower after a poor start to the week on Monday, as all the major indexes closed the session lower. Hawkish central bank commentary from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank was cited as one reason for the selling Monday. In addition, despite inflation showing signs of lowering, there is still a good chance the federal funds rate will be hiked another 75 basis points in three increments next year, which would put the rate at 5.00% to 5.25%.
Another reason for the Monday selling was that Treasury rates spiked higher across the curve, with the five-year, 10-year and 30-year paper all up 10 basis points. The inversion in the Two-year and 10-year stayed in place, as the latter closed at 3.58% and the former at 4.26%
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed higher on Monday, with Brent edging back over the $80 mark and WTI back over $75. Natural gas was the big loser on the day, down over 11% to close at $5.83. Gold and Bitcoin both closed lower as well.
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 Tuesday, December 20, 2022.
American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (NYSE: AEL): Raymond James upgraded the stock to Strong Buy from Outperform and has a $48 target price. The consensus target is $43.33. The stock closed Monday’s session almost 3% higher at $40.29.
Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP): Keefe Bruyette downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and has a $325 target price. The consensus target is up at $342. The shares ended Monday at $306.49.
Argenx S.E. (NASDAQ: ARGX): Truist Securities reiterated a Buy rating with a $420 target price. The consensus target is higher at $443.37. Monday’s close was at $377.83.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): MoffettNathanson downgraded the legacy telecommunications giant from Market Perform to Underperform with a $17 target price. The consensus target is $20.28. The shares closed Monday at $17.85, down almost 4% on the day.
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX): As J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, it cut its $68 target price to $55. The consensus target is $62.08. The stock closed on Monday at $49.94.
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