Pre-Market Stock Futures:
The futures are trading lower on Thursday after investors and traders tapped the brakes on the 2026 new year rally, as only the Nasdaq was able to grind out another gain, finishing the session at 23,584, up 0.16. After exploding higher to print new all-time highs on Tuesday, both the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 ended the day lower, with the former down 0.94% to close at 48.996 as Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT | CAT Price Prediction) was hammered to the tune of 4.25%, and the latter down just 0.34% to finish the day at 6,920. Needless to say, after a sprint out of the box to start the year, we could be seeing some short-term traders scalping profits, but it’s also possible investors were selling losers and winners from 2025 this year to book gains or losses in 2026. With the non-farm payrolls for December released on Friday morning, some could be taking capital off the table ahead of the report, following a lackluster year in 2025 for job growth and a poor ADP employment report.
Treasury Bonds:
Yields were mainly lower across the Treasury curve on Wednesday as buyers continued to snap up many intermediate- and longer-dated government bonds. Traders cited the weaker-than-expected ADP employment data, which showed a gain of 41,000 jobs versus expectations of 48,000. In addition, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report indicated that job openings fell more than expected, reaching their lowest level in over a year. This is the kind of data that could spur more interest rate cuts in 2026. The 30-year Treasury long bond closed at 4.82% while the benchmark 10-year note was last seen at 4.14%.
Oil and Gas:
Crude oil prices were lower across the energy complex on Wednesday, but the extreme pressure seen earlier in the week abated somewhat. Brent Crude finished trading on Wednesday at $60.31, down 0.64%, while West Texas Intermediate finished down 1.42% at $56.32. Concerns about oversupply continue to pose headwinds for the sector. Still, one positive for the day came when it was reported that four key Opec+ producers have pledged to deepen their production cuts in the first half of 2026, as the organization looks to improve quota compliance among its members. One bright spot for the day was natural gas rallying 6.48% to finish at $3.57.
Gold:
For the first time in the new year, Gold and Silver finished lower on the day, and the likely reason was old-fashioned profit-taking after a massive rally in both precious metals over the last year. Last year, gold posted its biggest gains since 1979, and while the base for continued moves higher is in place for both gold and silver, traders are expecting near-term volatility. The final gold quote was $4,452, down 0.92%, while silver was quoted at $78.13, down 3.78%.
Crypto:
Crypto trading on Wednesday saw a downturn, with Bitcoin falling below $92,000 and pulling major altcoins down, extending earlier losses as traders digest new U.S. labor data and geopolitical risks, leading to increased risk-off sentiment and significant liquidations in leveraged futures, mainly affecting coins like XRP and Ethereum. At 8A EST, Bitcoin traded at $89.830, while Ethereum traded at $3,091.
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Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on
Upgrades:
- Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald, which raised its target price to $370 from $310.
- Chubb Ltd. (NYSE: CD) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs with a $351 price target.
- Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America, with a $340 target price objective.
- The Gap Inc. (NYSE: GAP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS with a $41 target price.
- Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was upgraded to Outperform from In Line at Evercore ISI, which lifted the target price for the shares to $145 from $1o5.
Downgrades:
- Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, which bumped the target price up to $50 from $45.
- Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist, which dropped the target price for the restaurant giant to $207 from $240.
- Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America, which slashed the target price for the shares to $170 from $210.
- Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas, which dropped the target price to $106 from $128.
- Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) was cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, who bumped the target price up to $175 from $173.
Initiations:
- Bread Financial Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BFH) was initiated with a Buy rating at UBS, with a $92 target price.
- Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was initiated with a Buy rating at TD Cowen with a giant $802 target price.
- Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII) was initiated with a Buy rating at Seaport Research, which has set a $83 target for the shares.
- Reddit Inc. (NYSE: RDDT) was started with a Neutral rating at Cantor Fitzgerald with a $240 target price.
- Tyler Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TYL) was initiated with a Buy rating at Stifel, which has set a $550 target price objective.
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