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The futures were higher on Wednesday, after all the major indexes closed up Tuesday. Wall Street will be focused on Thursday’s release of the consumer price index, which is forecast to come in at up 6.7% year over year, versus the December print of 7.1%. While improving, “sticky inflation” on food and other items remains stubbornly high, and the tailwind from lower energy prices could decrease as demand accelerates.
Treasury yields were up by double digits across almost the entire curve after some big buying had driven yields on most maturities down to the lowest levels since the fall. The buying was an anomaly to many who feel that the Federal Reserve’s higher-for-longer stance will be in place with a terminal rate above 5%. Analysts are mixed on whether the next increase in rates will be by 25 or 50 basis points at the end of the month.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed higher, with Brent reclaiming the $80 a barrel level. Despite the sideways trading, many energy analysts and pundits, including those at Goldman Sachs, feel that both major benchmarks will creep higher this year. The Goldman team sees Brent at $105 by the fourth quarter. Gold closed modestly higher Tuesday, while Bitcoin was up close to 1%, back over the $17,000 level.
Darlinez News. 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 Wednesday, January 11, 2023.
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY): Jefferies downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and lowered its $40 target price to $25. Wall Street has a $31.12 consensus target. Tuesday’s last trade came in at $26.70.
American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT): Goldman Sachs upgraded the cell tower giant to Buy from Neutral. It also lifted its $215 target price to $245, but the consensus target is still higher at $248.82. The stock closed on Tuesday at $221.96.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM): Zacks selected this stock as its Bull of the Day, suggesting that food inflation should mean higher profits for the agricultural products giant. Shares last closed at $86.23, and the $101.29 consensus price target would be an all-time high.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): Wells Fargo’s upgrade was to Overweight from Equal Weight, with the $17 target price lifted to $22. The consensus target is $20.28, and the stock closed on Tuesday at $19.48.
Azek Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: AZEK): Though Citigroup cut its Buy rating to Neutral, it bumped its $21 target price up to $23, near the $22.90 consensus target and Tuesday’s closing print of $22.98.