The futures traded lower Wednesday after another rally attempt was initially thwarted on Tuesday, as the risk-on crowd came to the party. While the beleaguered Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed up, the Dow Jones industrials, in a late bout of selling, closed lower.
The big surprise on Tuesday was the strength in the Treasury market, where yields across the curve dropped and the yield on the 10-year note dropped back below the 3% mark. What that may signify may not be welcome news for investors, as a flight to Treasury securities usually signals inventors are running for cover in a market that could have more downside, especially as we are in the “sell in May and go away” time of the year.
One promising trend that did follow through Tuesday was that both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed lower, with Brent down over 4% and WTI closing below the $100 mark. Natural gas rallied back with a vengeance, closing up over 5% at $7.38, while gold ended the day up almost 1%.
All eyes were focused on the consumer price index reading, which did not decelerate on either a month-over-month and year-over-year basis as expected on Wall Street. The April reading came in at 0.3%, versus 0.2% in the prior month, while the April core reading (sans food and energy) was 0.6%, up from 0.4% in March. Not the overall improvement many in the financial community was looking for. The rate of inflation over the past year slowed to 8.3% from 8.5% though. So tacit improvement there.
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 Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
Affirm Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): J.P. Morgan began coverage with a Neutral rating and a $30 target price. The consensus target is up at $69.94. The stock closed over 11% lower on Tuesday at $18.19.
Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN): This medical device maker was selected as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The analyst points out that a global growth slowdown has slashed its earnings this year. Shares hit a 52-week low of $254.48 on Tuesday and are down more than 60% year to date.
AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP): BofA Securities reiterated a Neutral rating and cut the $70 price target to $43. The target is $88. The stock closed 4% lower on Tuesday at $28.99.
24/7 Wall St.Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
