Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are trading higher as we get set to end what has been one of the wildest weeks on Wall Street in some time. After blowing through all-time highs for the umpteenth time on Wednesday, stocks started higher again on Thursday but started to sell off after the noon hour. While most of the upside for much of the week was related to the peace process with Iran and falling oil prices, that unraveled some on Thursday when a Chinese tanker was attacked near a key oil route, which was all it took to send oil prices higher again, and wake up the sellers who were noticeably absent much of the week as technology earnings blew away estimates. When it was all said and done on Thursday, all of the major indices finished the day lower, with the small-cap heavy Russell 2000 leading the way lower, closing down 1.67% at 2,838, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded lower by 0.63% to finish the day at 49,596. The S&P 500 closed Thursday at 7,337, down 0.38%, while the tech-loaded Nasdaq fared the best, closing down 0.13% at 25,806.
Treasury Bonds:
After a slew of buyers showed up when Treasury yields hit 5% earlier this week on the longest maturities, the sellers had seen enough and returned, and yields across the Treasury curve were all higher on Thursday, with only the shortest T-bill maturities being bought. The attack on the Chinese ship and the spike in oil prices were seen as the provocateur, and likely, as with equities, some profit-taking was involved as well. By the close, the 30-year long bond was trading at 4.96%, while the 10-year note was last seen at 4.38%.
Oil and Gas:
Prices were mixed across the energy complex on Thursday, but we didn’t see the drastic moves that have been part and parcel for energy trading since the start of the war with Iran. This comes as the U.S. Secretary of Energy noted that Iran has cut oil output by 400,000 barrels per day amid collapsing exports and a lack of storage. Brent Crude closed trading on Thursday at $100.50, down 0.81%, while West Texas Intermediate was last seen at $95.20, up 0.13%. Natural gas also traded higher, finishing the session at $2.78, up 1.83%.
Gold:
Gold continued its winning ways Thursday, following up on a series of recent strong showings. Morgan Stanley noted Thursday that it sees gold trading back to $5,200 by year-end, while many Wall Street analysts have year-end targets well above that. Gold was last seen Thursday at $4,712, up 0.47%, while Silver ended the day at $79.51, up 2.94%.
Crypto:
The cryptocurrency market experienced a widespread pullback, with major assets retreating after a solid rally earlier in the week. Bitcoin failed to sustain its push above $82,000, falling back to trade around $80,000–$81,000 during the day. After hitting a 3-month high on Wednesday, sellers returned, and the combination of weak equities and the ever-present geopolitical issues was cited as the cause. At 8 AM EDT, Bitcoin was trading at $80,220, while Ethereum was quoted at $2,295.
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Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Friday May, 8, 2026.
Upgrades:
- Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN | DVN Price Prediction) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, which raised the price target for the shares to $62 from $53.
- Fastly (NASDAQ: FSLY) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, with a $23 target price.
- Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Daiwa, with a $225 target price.
- Shake Shack (NYSE: SHAK) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, which dropped the target price for the shares to $85 from $105.
- Tapestry (NYSE: TPR) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, which raised the price target for the stock to $187 from $142.
Downgrades:
- Deckers Outdoors (NYSE: DECK) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, with a $90 target price.
- Epam Systems (NYSE: EPAM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, which slashed the target price for the stock to $110 from $215.
- HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald, which slashed the price target for the shares to $200 from $325.
- Nike (NYSE: NKE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, which trimmed the target price for the stock to $45 from $55.
- Planet Fitness (NYSE: PLNT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by KGI Securities, which has a $50.50 target price.
Initiations:
- Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) was initiated with a Buy rating at HSBC with a $517 target price.
- CEVA (NASDAQ: CEVA) was initiated with a Neutral rating at JPMorgan, with a $30 target price.
- ClearPoint Neuro (NASDAQ: CLPT) was resumed with a Buy rating at Stifel, with a $16 target price.
- Kopin (NASDAQ: KOPN) was assumed with a Buy rating at Canaccord, with a $5.50 target price.
- Satellogic (NASDAQ: SATL) was started with a Buy rating at Roth Capital, with a $10 target price.
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