The futures traded higher Thursday, after a back-and-forth Wednesday that saw the major indexes fight a tug-of-war between the risk-off sellers and the buy-the-dip crowd looking for bargains. In the end, the sellers won, with all the major indexes closing lower.<\/p>\n
Continued concerns over rising interest rates, profits at major corporations that may see compensation costs expanding, the continued rapidly rising inflation and the reality that economic growth could slow dramatically this year are all contributing to the recent volatility. In addition, with the Federal Reserve liquidity punchbowl being removed from the party, stocks that make no money have come under intense selling pressure for some time, and short sellers seemed to be focused on this group.<\/p>\n
Yields were down slightly across all the Treasury maturities. However, the five-year and 10-year notes are still sitting right near 52-week highs.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, January 20, 2022.<\/p>\n
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Piper Sandler downgraded the chipmaker to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the price target to $130 from $140. The Wall Street consensus target is $143.63. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $128.27.<\/p>\n
Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): Loop Capital started coverage with a Hold rating and a $72 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $146.36. The stock was last seen on Wednesday trading at $64.30.<\/p>\n
Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO): Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral but trimmed the price target to $7 from $6. The consensus target for the franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants across the globe is $6.87. The shares closed trading on Wednesday at $5.54.<\/p>\n
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK): Zacks named this as the Bull of the Day stock. The analyst makes the case that solid institutional buying should continue to provide a tailwind for this long-term market winner. The stock most recently closed at $59.24 and has a consensus price target of $67.84, which would be a 52-week high.<\/p>\n