Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are trading lower as we prepare to wrap up a rollercoaster week marked by huge market swings. Still, ultimately, President Trump’s TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) move on Greenland, and dismissing the potential of massive increases in European tariffs, calmed everybody and ushered in a massive two-day relief rally. The focus will now return to fourth-quarter earnings, as hundreds of companies are expected to release results next week. In addition, more economic data will be forthcoming, like the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation data for October and November 2025, which was released yesterday, showing annual PCE inflation at 2.7% (October) and 2.8% (November), with monthly increases of around 0.2%, generally in line with expectations but still above the Fed’s 2% target. Any hint that inflation is drifting higher could dent hopes for a rate cut.
All of the major indices finished Thursday higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way, closing up 0.91% at 23,436, while the S&P 500 ended the session at 6,913, up 0.55%, and the Dow Jones Industrial closing at 49,384, up 0.63%. The small-cap Russell 2000 continues to bully the big boys, closing up 0.76% at 2,718. Up 8.2% on the year, the index is crushing the other three decisively.
Treasury Bonds:
Yields were mixed across the Treasury curve on Thursday as buyers once again stepped in on some of the longer maturities, while the 1-year to 7-year segment saw mild selling. Overall, though, yields were little changed or slightly lower as investors digested new economic data, such as the inflation report we mentioned, and monitored trade developments, while holding off on a pullback from the five-month highs reached earlier in the week. The 30-year-long bond closed at 4.84% while the benchmark 10-year note finished the day at 4.25%.
Oil and Gas:
Prices were lower across the energy complex, except, once again, for Natural gas, which finished the day up 3.49% at $5.05 after jumping almost 75% earlier this week as a wicked Arctic storm bears down on the United States. Brent crude closed down 1.29% at $64.40, while West Texas Intermediate finished at $59.39, down 2.08%. The International Energy Agency reiterated once again that global oil supply is expected to significantly exceed demand this year, even after a slight upward revision to its demand growth forecast. With the geopolitical issues cooling, prices could be headed lower. The black gold is trading up almost 2% this morning.
Gold:
Gold was up again on Thursday, and as it closes in on the $5,000 mark, you can expect Wall Street to start lifting projections for the rest of the year, as many firms had $5,000 as the year-end target for the precious metal. Goldman Sachs has already raised its 2026 target price to $5,400 from $5,000. The last trade came in at $4,935, up 2.14%, while Silver was last seen at $96.06, up 3.3%. The same could be said for Silver, which is closing in on $100 and is the target many top firms were aiming for at the end of the year.
Crypto:
The cryptocurrency market finally stabilized yesterday, showing solid signs of a pending partial recovery, trading within a relatively narrow range after significant volatility earlier in the week. Bitcoin hovered around $89,000 to $90,000, rebounding from lows below $88,000 during a Tuesday selloff. At 8 A EST, Bitcoin was trading at $88,970 while Ethereum was quoted at $2,927. Both are down 1% from yesterday.
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 Friday, January 23, 2026.
Upgrades:
- Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT | AMAT Price Prediction) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, which boosted the target price objective for the shares to $395 from $275.
- Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Mizhou, which lifted the target price for the stock to $235 from $195.
- Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen with a $100 target price.
- Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, which lifted the target price for the consumer products giant to $165 from $157.
- Spotify Technology SA (NYSE: SPOT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, which trimmed the target price for the shares to $700 from $735.
Downgrades:
- BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BJ) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Melius Research with a $100 target price.
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, which bumped the target price to $54 from $53.50.
- Sherwin-Williams Inc. (NYSE: SHW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, with a $380 price target.
- Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan with a $117.50 price target.
- Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO) was cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS with a $14 target price.
Initiations:
- e.l.f. Beauty Inc. (NYSE: ELF) was initiated with a Buy rating and a $110 target price at Citigroup.
- Insmed Inc. (NASDAQ: INSM) was initiated with a Buy rating at Roth Capital with a $212 target price.
- MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) was started with an Overweight rating at Cantor Fitzgerald, which has a $274 target price for the shares.
- Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLCO) was initiated with a Buy rating at Texas Capital with an $11.50 target price.
- Quanta Services Inc. (NYSE: PWR) was started with an Overweight rating at Cantor Fitzgerald with a $520 target price objective.
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