The futures were lower Monday, as battered investors return after a dreadful Friday that saw all the major indexes get hammered. The winner in the death and destruction race was the tech-heavy Nasdaq, down a stunning 3.8% on the day. Stronger than expected nonfarm payroll numbers combined with unemployment dropping to 3.5% from 3.7% lit the fuse and exploded the massive risk-off move.

Investors may be in for a grim replay this week, as the consumer price index numbers will hit the tape on Thursday. While they should be lower than in the summer, they will still be much higher than the Federal Reserve’s stated 2% level. If they come in above expectations, a 75-basis-point increase in early November will be a given, as well as a 50-basis-point increase in December at the last Fed meeting for the year.

Interest rates were higher again across the Treasury curve on Friday, as the sellers returned as the odds for the aforementioned 75-basis-point move in November have increased dramatically. While the 10-year note traded up to a 3.88% yield, the inversion with the two-year note remained in place, with the shorter maturity closing Friday at 4.31%. The inversion is a recession indicator for many in the bond market.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both exploded higher Friday, with the former up 4.15% and the latter a stunning 5.22%. OPEC’s announcement last week of a massive 2 million barrel per day production cut was the reason for one of the biggest days for the two benchmarks in months. Natural gas closed lower on the day, while both gold and Bitcoin also closed down, following the equity markets’ lead.

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 Monday, October 10, 2022.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and cut its $122 target price to $100. Wells Fargo stayed with an Overweight rating and lowered its $90 target price to $85. Truist Financial reiterated a Hold rating and slashed the price target to $70 from $107. The consensus target is $114.37 for now. The stock closed almost 14% lower on Friday at $58.44 after the company issued a third-quarter revenue warning.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA): UBS started coverage on the aluminum giant with a Neutral rating and a $43 target price. The consensus target is up at $55.05. Friday’s last trade was reported at $39.01.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): Argus upgraded the biotech giant to Buy from Hold and has a $300 target price. The consensus target is $267.47. The shares closed on Friday at $257.89.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP): SMBC Nikko initiated coverage on the cybersecurity giant with a Neutral rating and a $115 target. The consensus target is $139.13. The stock closed on Friday at $110.69.
Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY): Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $42 price target. The consensus target is $45.44. The stock closed over 4% lower on Friday at $36.34.

Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: CLB): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Neutral from Sell and cut its $24 price to $17. The consensus target is $20.39. The shares closed on Friday at $16.61.

Coupang Inc. (NYSE: CPNG): HSBC Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $27.80 price target. The consensus target is $23.74. Friday’s close at $19.56 was down 7% on the day.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD): SMBC Nikko started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $240 target price. The consensus target is lower at $239.63. The shares ended Friday’s session trading at $171.88.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $25 target price. The consensus target is $26.42. The shares closed on Friday at $16.57, up over 3% for the day on reports the company is in talks for an exclusive deal with ESPN.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX): Zacks selected this mining giant as its Bear of the Day stock, citing falling earnings estimates. Shares have traded as high as $51.99 apiece in the past year but closed most recently at $28.95. That is down nearly 41% in the past six months.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS): Keefe Bruyette upgraded the Wall Street behemoth to Outperform from Market Perform. It also raised its $395 price target to $429, well above the $384.16 consensus target. Friday’s close was at $301.08.

Guidewire Software Inc. (NYSE: GWRE): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with an $85 target price. The consensus target is $84.50. The stock closed on Friday at $63.26.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): Piper Sandler resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $36 target. The consensus target is higher at $42.01. The shares closed over 2% higher on Friday at $30.41 on the energy sector strength.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to Sector Perform from Outperform and dropped its $30 price target to $16. The consensus target is $30.41. The stock closed on Friday at $12.51, down almost 9% for the day on the downgrade and the weak tape.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC): Baird downgraded the railroad heavyweight to Neutral from Outperform while chopping the $280 target price to $240. The consensus target is $251.65. The shares closed on Friday at $214.57.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA): Zacks named this as its Bull of the Day stock, with the analyst suggesting that the company is dealing with a mixed quarter and management moves that took shares down. The stock last closed at $53.72, and hitting the $97.33 consensus target price would be a gain of about 81%.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW): SMBC Nikko started coverage of the cybersecurity leader with an Outperform rating and a $230 target price. The consensus target is $217.91. Friday’s close was at $169.91.
Patterson-Uti Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN): Piper Sandler resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $19 target. The consensus target is up at $21.58. The shares were last seen on Friday trading at $14.29.

Principal Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ: PFG): J.P. Morgan lowered its Neutral rating to Underweight but lifted the $69 target price to $72. The consensus target is $73. The last trade Friday hit the tape at $76.04.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR): Jefferies raised its Hold rating to Buy from, and its $123 target price was hiked to $142. The consensus target is $121.63. Friday’s close was at $121.96.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB): Piper Sandler resumed coverage with an Overweight rating. Its $50 target would be a 52-week high, and shares closed on Friday at $42.59.

Service Corp. International (NYSE: SCI): Truist Financial initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $72 target price. The consensus target is $80.50. The final trade on Friday came in at $60.00 a share.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U): Needham started coverage with a Buy and a $50 target price. The consensus target is $54.94, and Friday’s closing trade of $32.77 was down almost 9% on no news we could find except for the horrible technology and market tape on Friday.

Unum Group (NYSE: UNUM): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating but trimmed the $48 target price to $44. The consensus target is $39.15. The stock ended Friday trading at $41.62.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM): J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and slashed the $295 target price to $85. The consensus target is $105.00. The last trade for Friday came in at $76.59.

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Further federal funds rate increases and the third-quarter earnings reporting season could stir up the volatility cauldron. The best move for spooked investors may be to the top Warren Buffett stocks, as playing it safe now just makes sense.

See what has PayPal users outraged.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Cleveland-Cliffs, CrowdStrike, Meta Platforms, Nasdaq, Okta, Penn Entertainment, PPL, Splunk, Target, U.S. Steel and Zscaler.

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