The futures were trading higher across the board Wednesday, after a massive risk-on rally for all the major indexes, which many felt was a result of an extremely oversold market and some buy-the-huge-dip mentality, reversed in the afternoon as huge gains were wiped out and the major indexes closed down again. The Nasdaq slipped into bear market status with the latest closing print.<\/p>\n
President Biden announced a ban on the importing of Russian oil, though the United States only imports a little over 400,000 barrels per day from Russia, a pittance compared to the massive 20.54 million barrels used per day.<\/p>\n
Reports from Reuters indicated that Russian forces have slowed their advance in front of a key meeting tomorrow in Turkey between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats. That may have spurred additional selling in the Treasury bond markets, as yields once again were up across the curve. Both gold and oil surged higher again, with Brent crude closing at $129 a barrel, up 5%, and West Texas Intermediate at $123, up close to 4%. Those gains were being cut into big-time Wednesday morning, as both were down close to 3%. Gold ended the day at $2,052 an ounce, a massive 2.8% gain.<\/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 Wednesday, March 9, 2022.<\/p>\n
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Zacks as selected this as the Bull of the Day stock, and the analyst makes a case for buying its shares rather than rival Nvidia. The stock last closed at $105.53 a share, and the consensus price target is $151.54.<\/p>\n
AvidXChange Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AVDX): Goldman Sachs cut the price target to $13 from $24 while keeping a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $22.90 for now. The stock closed Tuesday at $8.26, down over 5%, and the selling continued in the aftermarket with the stock down another 4%. Despite posting seemingly solid results, the stock was mauled.<\/p>\n
Bluebird Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE): Goldman Sachs maintained a Sell rating while cutting the target price to $3 from $9. The consensus target is $10.45. The stock ended trading on Tuesday at $4.62, up almost 4% for the day. Note that the shares traded at $150 four short years ago.<\/p>\n
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG): Oppenheimer upgraded the shares to Outperform from Perform and has a $2,560 target price. The consensus target is $2686.67. The shares closed Tuesday at $1899.53, up almost 5% on the day.<\/p>\n
Callon Petroleum Co. (NYSE: CPE): Truist Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold, and the $64 price target jumped to $100. The consensus target is lower at $69.20. The last trade Tuesday came in at $60.98.\n\t\t<\/p>\n