Month: December 2023

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level since January 2022 as investors crossed the finish line of a banner month for stocks and viewed cooling inflation data as a harbinger of easing Federal Reserve monetary policy.

The Dow was the clear outperformer, with a solid boost from Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) on the heels of its consensus-beating earnings report.

The S&P 500 closed modestly green, while tech and tech-adjacent momentum stocks, led by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), pulled the Nasdaq into negative territory.

Still, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched their largest monthly percentage gain since July 2022. November was the Dow’s best month for percentage gains since October 2022.

“We’re putting the cherry on top of a banner month,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “It’s a nice reminder for investors how worried everyone was a month ago, and we just finished one of the best months in history for stocks.”

Among data released Thursday, the Commerce Department’s closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report showed inflation is cooling as expected, along with consumer spending. The data reinforced expectations that the Fed has completed its rate hiking cycle.

While New York Fed President John Williams reiterated the central bank’s determination to remain data dependent, he would not rule out the possibility of further rate hikes if inflation fails to continue to moderate.

“Kicking off much of the strength this month was the realization that inflation is quickly coming back to earth we saw that again today with core PCE data suggesting inflation is no longer a major headwind,” Detrick added.

Financial markets have priced in a 95.8% likelihood that the central bank will let its key Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50% at December’s policy meeting.

“There’s likely no rate hikes any time soon, the next move will likely be a cut, probably in the middle of next year,” Detrick said. “The massive drop in (Treasury) yields this month is the bond market’s way of saying it thinks the Fed is indeed done raising rates.”

Powell is scheduled to participate in two separate discussions on Friday, at 11 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 520.47 points, or 1.47%, to 35,950.89, the S&P 500 gained 17.22 points, or 0.38%, at 4,567.8 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 32.27 points, or 0.23%, to 14,226.22.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, healthcare stocks outperformed, while communication services suffered the steepest percentage decline.

Dow Transports, considered a barometer of economic health, advanced 1.4%.

Salesforce jumped 9.4% following the company’s higher-than-expected profit forecast based on solid demand for its cloud services.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co slid 3.1% after the automaker set the cost of a new labor deal at $8.8 billion and cut its full-year forecast.

Data cloud company Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) surged 7.1% after it forecast fourth-quarter product revenue above Street estimates.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) and Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) gained 2.4% and 6.5%, respectively, after Jefferies’ upgrade of the social media firms to “buy” from “hold.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.62-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 109 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.22 billion shares, compared with the 10.55 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

© Reuters

Investing.com — Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst cuts you may have missed since yesterday: downgrades at Okta, Bilibili, Nutrien , and Nokia.

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Okta downgraded at several firms after Q3

Following the announcement of its Q3 results, which suggested a slowing in revenue growth heading into fiscal 2025, Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) experienced a series of downgrades by a number of Wall Street firms.

TD Cowen changed its rating for Okta from Outperform to Market Perform, adjusting the price target to $74.00 from the previous $100.00. “OKTA’s financial performance is reflecting the impact of recent high-profile breaches involving the company’s solutions, and we believe the stock remains range bound until cRPO growth can reaccelerate,” commented the analysts.

Piper Sandler also revised its rating for Okta, moving from Overweight to Neutral and setting a new price target at $75.00, down from $95.00. Wells Fargo downgraded their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight, with a revised price target of $70.00, lowered from $80.00.

KeyBanc shifted its rating from Overweight to Sector Weight. Similarly, Scotiabank cut its rating from Sector Outperform to Sector Perform for Okta.

Shares are currently down more than 3% pre-market today.

Bilibili hit with two downgrades after a Q3 miss

Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI) received two downgrades after reporting Q3 results, which missed consensus estimates and sent the shares down more than 11% yesterday, as reported in real-time on InvestingPro.

Barclays downgraded Bilibili to Underweight from Equalweight and cut its price target to $10.00 from $15.00. Meanwhile, Nomura/Instinet cut its rating to Neutral from Buy.

Shares are currently down 2% in pre-market.

Two more downgrades

Exane BNP Paribas downgraded Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $76.13.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) shares fell more than 1% pre-market today after JPMorgan downgraded the company to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $4.39 from $5.60.

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© Reuters

Investing.com – Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) started deliveries of its Cybertruck electric pickup on Thursday, with a starting price of $60,990 as CEO Elon Musk bets big on electric truck segment.

The rear-wheel drive base model of the Cybertruck will cost $60,990, with more high-end, powerful versions, the all-wheel drive and Cyberbeast, fetching price tags of $79,990 and $99,990, respectively. After tax credits as well as promotions, pricing for the base model will be $49,890, while the all-wheel drive and Cyberbeast will come in at about $68,890 and $96,390, respectively. 

What we’re aiming with the Cybertruck is a “better truck than a truck while also being a better sports car than a sports car,” Musk said Thursday at the launch  event of the Cybertruck in Austin, TX. 

That was well above the $40,000 price tag Musk first touted for the base model in 2019, but in-line with Wall Street estimates, Wedbush said Thursday following the event.

The rear-wheel drive $60,990 version is expected to begin rolling out in 2025, with an estimated range of 250 miles on a single charge, and a zero-to-60 speed of 6.5 seconds. The all-wheel drive, with deliveries starting in 2024, has an expected range 340 miles, with a zero-to-60 speed of 4.1 seconds, while the top-end model dubbed “Cyberbeast,” boasts an estimate range of 320 miles, 11,000 pound maximum towing capacity, and a zero-to-60 speed of 2.6 seconds.

Musk offered no fiscal 2024 deliver targets for the Cybertruck, which has faced production challenges, but Wedbush forecasts Tesla will deliver about 2,000 to 3,000 Cybertrucks this quarter, with the first 10,000 unit quarter to come in first half of next year.

“While Cybertruck does not significantly move the financial needle for Tesla in 2024 it further shows the innovation and mind share lead that Tesla has built with many OEM competitors around the world still on the treadmill stuck in neutral,” Wedbush said.