The futures were trading lower Thursday, after the market finally posted an across-the-board winning day in which all the major indexes closed decidedly higher. The venerable S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials both ended a six-day losing streak. One big reason for the risk-on rally was interest rates plunging as buyers swooped into the Treasury complex in a big way. In addition, some feel that the Bank of England’s intervention into the bond market (it is buying its own government debt) may spark a similar change in Federal Reserve policy. Most across Wall Street feel that is extremely doubtful, given the fact that the Fed is in quantitative tightening mode and allowing $95 billion per month to run off its massive balance sheet.

The aforementioned massive drop in Treasury debt yields featured both the five-year and 10-year securities yields falling by a stunning 29 and 26 basis points, respectively. The 10-year, which had briefly breached the 4% level earlier this week, closed at 3.71%. Despite the drop, the inversion with the two-year note remained in place, as the short-term debt closed at 4.10%, a stunning 21-basis-point decline.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed much higher Wednesday on concerns over Hurricane Ida, which slammed into the Florida coast as a massive category 4 storm. The hurricane, combined with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting a modest oil inventory draw from the week ending September 23, helped to spur the big rise in the benchmarks. In addition, gasoline stocks, according to the EIA, fell by 2.4 million barrels in the reporting period, with production averaging 9.6 million barrels daily.

Natural gas also closed higher, after a big midday reversal, while both gold and Bitcoin had a solid session on Wednesday, each trading up close to 3%. Bitcoin and other cryptos got a boost on the Bank of England intervention.

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 Thursday, September 29, 2022.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Rosenblatt upgraded the technology leader to Buy from Neutral and lifted its $160 price target to $189. BofA Securities lowered its Buy rating to Neutral and cut the target price to $160 from $185. The consensus target is $183.06. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $149.84.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): When Baird upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral, it boosted its $224 target price to $340. Mizuho raised its Neutral rating to Buy and raised its target to $270 from $207. The BMO Capital Markets upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform included a price objective hike to $360 from $217. The consensus target is $234.14 for now. The stock ended Wednesday at $276.61, up a stunning 40% on the day after positive clinical data on the firm’s Alzheimer drug.

Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B): Truist Financial initiated coverage on the spirits heavyweight with a Buy rating and an $80 target price. The consensus target is lower at $72.64. The shares ended trading on Wednesday at $68.10.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA): Wedbush resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $95 target. The consensus target is $94.75. The stock closed on Wednesday at $73.51.

Crescent Energy Co. (NYSE: CRGY): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating, but its $18 target price is less than the $25.00 consensus target. The stock closed over 7% higher on Wednesday at $13.77, likely on the upgrade.

CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX): Susquehanna downgraded the shares to Neutral from Positive and lowered the $35 target price to $29. The consensus target is $35.54. The stock closed on Wednesday at $27.63.

Enovix Corp. (NASDAQ: ENVX): Cantor Fitzgerald started covering the stock with an Overweight rating and a $25 target. The consensus target is up at $40.29. Wednesday’s close at $18.95 was up over 4% for the day.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a $190 target price. The consensus target for the generator and solar giant is up at $357.42. The stock closed on Wednesday at $187.37.

Healthpeak Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: PEAK): Wolfe Research upgraded the stock from Peer Perform to Outperform with a $27 target. The consensus target is $31.63. The stock closed on Wednesday at $23.34.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN): Evercore ISI raised its In Line rating to Outperform and hiked the $170 target price to $250. That compares with the $243.18 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $201.29, up almost 8% for the day on the upgrade and the very solid tape.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS): HSBC Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $76 target. The consensus target is just $58.80. The stock closed on Wednesday at $54.19.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH): This homebuilder is the Zacks Bear of the Day stock, with the analyst citing the challenge of rising rates. The shares have traded as high as $50.20 in the past year but closed most recently at $26.99. That is down about 40% year to date.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT): Wells Fargo downgraded the aerospace and defense heavyweight to Underweight from Equal Weight and has a $415 target price. The consensus target is $459.32. Wednesday’s close was at $400.00 a share.

L3 Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX): Wells Fargo cut its Overweight rating to Equal Weight with a $238 price target objective. Shares have traded as high as $279.71 in the past year and closed most recently at $214.57.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX): Atlantic Equities upgraded the programming and entertainment streaming giant to Overweight from Neutral. It also raised its $211 price target to $283, well above the $241.49 consensus target. The stock closed almost 10% higher on Wednesday at $245.20, on the upgrade and generally positive Wall Street reaction to the new ad-supported tier.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC): Susquehanna downgraded shares of the railroad to Neutral from Positive and slashed its $275 target price to $218. Analysts have a consensus target of $264.00, and the stock closed at $216.72 on Wednesday.
Oxford Industries Inc. (NYSE: OXM): Zacks has selected this apparel stock as its Bull of the Day, citing raised earnings guidance. The shares last closed at $93.58, and the $122.40 consensus price target would be an all-time high.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM): Credit Suisse resumed coverage of the tobacco giant with a Neutral rating and a $107 price target. The consensus target is $109.57. The shares closed on Wednesday at $87.35.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF): Wedbush resumed coverage of the bank with an Outperform rating and a $25 target price. The consensus target is $24.58. The stock closed on Wednesday at $20.46.

Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $7 target price. The consensus target is higher at $13.61. Wednesday was a good day for cryptos, and this stock closed almost 8% higher at $7.34.

Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN): Though RBC Capital Markets reiterated a Buy rating on the electric vehicle stock, it also lowered its $75 target price to $62. The consensus target is lower at $52.33. The stock closed almost 4% higher on Wednesday at $35.08.

SouthState Corp. (NASDAQ: SSB): Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral and bumped the $92 price target to $96. The consensus target is $94.29. Wednesday’s close at $81.19 was up close to 5% for the day.

Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN): Northland Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $60 target. The consensus target is lower at $48.74. The last trade Wednesday was reported at $31.07.

Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC): Piper Sandler raised its Neutral rating to Overweight and boosted its $52 price target to $55. The consensus target is $55.69. The stock closed on Wednesday at $44.25.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ZI): Daiwa Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $66 target price. The consensus target is $64.02. Wednesday’s final trade was for $42.29 a share, a gain of close to 5% for the day.

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Playing it safe just makes sense now for worried investors, until the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates. Six Warren Buffett favorite picks surely will hold up better than many other stocks for the rest of 2022 and into next year.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Altice USA, Boeing, Dynavax, EnLink Midstream, FedEx, Hasbro, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Snap and TransDigm.

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