1. On Thursday, one day after a sharp, late-session selloff in the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq, it looks like the markets will rebound. It was more about the abrupt 180 change in policy made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about deposit insurance than it was about Jerome Powell's press conference after the Fed raised interest rates. Since a lot of credit conditions are tightening as a result of the recent turmoil in the banking system, it is impossible to blame Powell for wanting to be cautious at the moment.
2. During a morning trading session Thursday, shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase sank nearly 15% after the SEC issued a Wells Notice, a warning about potential securities charges. It appears that Oppenheimer's downgrade of COIN to perform (hold from buy) follows the publication of a recent White House economic analysis in which the digital asset industry is harshly criticized, prompting them to remove the price target as well as downgrade it to perform from outperform.
3. Short-seller Hindenburg Research made a bet against Jack Dorsey's Block early Thursday, causing the company to sink nearly 18%. According to Hindenburg, Square, formerly Block, facilitates fraud. Trade Algo's request for comment was not answered immediately by Block.
4. Boston Properties (BXP) and SL Green Realty (SLG) are downgraded to equal weight (hold) by Barclays due to refinancing risks. In addition to hybrid work and layoffs, this brings trouble to a group already facing headwinds. We warned on "Mad Money" on Wednesday that office REITs could get worse before they improve.
5. Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) and Marathon Oil (MRO) were upgraded at Citi. Both have been added to the Top E&P picks, which include Diamondback Energy (FANG) and EOG Resources (EOG). In the second half of the year, PXD's well productivity rose. DVN and CTRA are Citi's buys and sells. More PXD was purchased on Monday.
6. A new financial reporting structure was unveiled by Ford (F) ahead of its teach-in event on Thursday. EV business (Ford Model e) is expected to lose about $3 billion in EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) in 2023. It is expected that Ford's first-generation electric vehicles will be able to break even this year after subtracting certain variable costs. The company's increased investments in EV products and manufacturing will more than offset that. By the end of 2026, Ford plans to produce 2 million EVs, scaling up to 600,000 by the end of 2023.
7. Does Apple (AAPL) plan to increase its investment in sports and content? The company is now considering bidding for the streaming rights to some English Premier League soccer games, as well as spending $1 billion a year making movies for theaters. With a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal, Apple already has Major League Soccer on its TV+ platform.
8. After this week's GTC conference, Needham increased Nvidia's price target to $300 from $270.
9. After reviewing stores in Chicago and recent company updates, Piper Sandler added Coty to its top ideas in beauty. Despite the recovery in China and travel out of Covid, Piper switches out of COTY for Estee Lauder (EL). In their opinion, COTY has higher upside potential in the near term.
10. Despite a slight decline in revenues and margins, Darden Restaurants (DRI) raises its full-year sales forecast. Olive Garden led the way with a 12.3% increase in same-restaurant sales.
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