Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are mainly trading higher as we start the first full week of trading in 2026. Investors and traders who were missing in action due to the Christmas and New Year’s holiday are returning to a stock market that, for the third consecutive year, did not experience a “Santa Claus rally,” which refers to stocks trading higher the final five trading sessions of each year and the first two of the following year. With Santa Claus safely back at the North Pole, and Wall Street back to full speed this week, many top analysts are expecting heightened volatility this year after the third consecutive year of double-digit gains for the venerable S&P 500 which rose on the first trading day of 2026, closing last Friday at 6,858, up 0.19%, while the Nasdaq closed slightly lower at 23,235. The Dow Jones Industrials burst out of the gate, closing up 0.66% to finish the session at 48,382.
Treasury Bonds:
Sellers took the stage on Friday as yields across the Treasury curve finished the day higher. While some buyers were in the T-bill maturities, the longer-dated bonds ended the day lower. The 30-year bond closed at 4.87%, while the benchmark 10-year note was last quoted at 4.20%, down from 4.80% this time last year, and the first annual decline in yield in five years. Traders are waiting for a flood of economic data, and not expecting another rate cut until perhaps the summer, so yields could drift higher in the near term.
Oil and Gas:
Prices were modestly lower across the energy complex on Friday, with Brent Crude down 0.16% at $60.75 and West Texas Intermediate closing the session at $57.32, down 0.17%. Oil prices hit five-year lows in 2025, and many expect WTI to trade in the $55- $60 range this year. The weekend capture of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife may inject some volatility into the picture this week. His capture comes almost to the day, 36 years ago, since the U.S captured Panama’s dictator, Manuel Noriega, for similar narco-terror and drug trafficking-related charges. Natural gas was the biggest loser on Friday, closing down 1.8% to $3.62. The sell-off comes as it was announced that U.S. LNG production broke a record, shipping 100 million tons in 2025.
Gold:
Gold started the year the same way it ended 2025, closing modestly higher Friday at $4,330 after a stellar year that saw the precious metal soar 64%, while Silver, which ended Friday at $72.62, was up an astounding 147% last year, and Platinum saw a massive 125% gain in 2025. The Data Center buildouts and China’s EV boom helped push other industrial commodities higher over the last year as well. Many expect Gold to reach $ 5,000 by the end of the year.
Crypto:
The crypto market rallied strongly on Friday, driven by gains across altcoins and memecoins. This represented a positive start to the year, after some very volatile sessions in December that saw big price swings across the major coins. At 8A EST, Bitcoin traded at $92,777, while Ethereum was quoted at $3,167.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports daily to identify new investment ideas for both investors and traders. 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.
Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Monday, January 5, 2026.
Upgrades:
- Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET | ANET Price Prediction) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, which lifted the target price on the shares to $159 from $145.
- ASML Holdings NV (NASDAQ: ASML) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein, which raised the target price for the stock to $1,528 from $935.
- Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, which bumped the target price to $303 from $294.
- Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) is raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS, which has a $168 target price.
- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, which boosted the target price on Big Blue to $360 from $300.
- Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL) is raised to Buy from Hold at Melius Research with a $135 target price objective.
Downgrades:
- Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, which dropped the price target down to $400 from $500.
- Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at New Street, with a $93 target price objective.
- Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was cut to Hold from Buy at TD Cowen, which lowered the target price to $460 from $500.
- Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at CFRA, which has a $100 target price.
- Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, which nudged the target price on the stock to $148 from $145.
Initiations:
- Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BMNR) was initiated with an Overweight rating at Cantor Fitzgerald, with a $39 target price.
- Eastern Bankshares Inc. (NYSE: EBC) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Hovde Group with a $22.50 target price.
- Lumexa Imaging Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LMRI)) is started with an Outperform rating at Wells Fargo with a $22 target. Raymond James also initiated coverage with an Outperform rating with a $23 target price.
- Sharplink Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: SBET) was started with an Overweight rating at Cantor Fitzgerald, which has a $15 target for the stock.
- Watts Water Inc. (NYSE: WTS) was initiated with a Sector Perform rating at RBC Capital, with a $288 target price.
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