The futures traded lower Tuesday, after all the major indexes closed higher to start the week, with some solid buying that into the close. The Federal Reserve starts its two-day meeting, which will conclude Wednesday with an expected 75-basis-point increase in the federal funds rate. It would appear that Fed Chair Powell is likely to keep up the hawkish rhetoric for now, and top Wall Street analysts are anticipating the target terminal rate will be in the 4.25% to 4.50% area and could be held there all through next year.
With seasonality in play (September is annually the worst month of the year for stocks), corporate stock buyback windows are being closed as we approach third-quarter earnings season. Finally, with a lack of selling capitulation, the path of least resistance for the equity markets looks to be lower.
Interest rates were higher Monday across the short end of the Treasury curve, while the 30-year bond closed higher with the yield at 3.51%. Both the five-year and 10-year securities closed at 52-week high yields. So did the two-year note, which closed at 3.95%, keeping the inversion with the 10-year in place as it ended the day at 3.49%.
After being down early Monday. both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed slightly higher, despite concerns over the strong dollar, the potential worldwide recession and weakening global demand. Natural gas closed lower on Monday. Gold was also down, but Bitcoin ended the day higher.
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.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): Wells Fargo downgraded the legacy tech giant to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed the price target to $310 from $425. The consensus target is higher for now at $459.46. The stock closed trading on Monday at $296.06.
Aon PLC (NYSE: AON): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $294 target. The consensus target is $304.50. The shares ended Monday trading at $278.71.
Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL): Oppenheimer kept an Outperform rating with a $200 target after meeting with the company’s investor relations team. The consensus target is $215.45. Monday’s close was at $144.03.
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Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating on the biotech giant and has a $300 target price. The consensus target is $234.33. The shares closed on Monday at $209.26.
Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating but raised its $159 price objective to $201. The consensus target is $188.05. The stock closed on Monday at $168.50.
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