The futures traded lower, after a big Thursday rally that saw all the major indexes finish the day sharply higher. Once again, big numbers from big technology stocks drove the impressive move higher, with Meta leading the way to a 15-month high with sales growing for the quarter after three straight quarterly declines. In addition, another positive for the day was President Biden finally agreeing to meet with Speaker McCarthy over the pending debt ceiling issue.
Goldman Sachs noted that with tax receipts down 29% year over year, the U.S. Treasury is expected to see its resources overwhelmed by the second week of June, but can still make scheduled payments until the end of July without a debt ceiling increase. Congress will be informed either on Friday or early next week on the debt limit deadline.
Treasury yields were up across the curve again on Thursday, as once again the sellers continue to take profits. It is likely that we will see some month-end window dressing over the next two sessions. The two-year paper yield jumped 17 basis points to close back over 4% at 4.08%, while the 10-year note finished the day up 10 basis points at 3.53%. The inversion between the two securities indicates recession is on the way.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both finished the day higher, after a rough week that saw prices decline for both oil benchmarks. We noted earlier this week that the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced a massive crude oil draw of 5.1 million barrels for the period ending April 21. Natural gas also finished the day higher at $2.36.
Gold finished the day lower as equities continued to rally, despite data that shows that central banks have been buying gold at a record pace in 2023. Bitcoin had a huge day, closing up over 4% at $29,605.
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 Friday, April 28, 2023.
Albany International Corp. (NYSE: AIN): Truist Financial upgraded the shares to Buy from Hold and lifted its $90 target price to $105. The consensus target is $99.80. The stock closed on Thursday at $91.52, which was up over 6%, after solid results were posted this week.
ASGN Inc. (NASDAQ: ASGN): BofA Securities cut its Buy rating to Underperform and its $109 price target to $66. The consensus target is $96.17 for now. The stock closed almost 5% lower on Thursday at $70.97, after a seemingly solid earnings report and the downgrade.
Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and raised its $52 target price to $58. The consensus target is $56.00, and Thursday’s close was at $52.03.
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