A quick look at the MarketScreener page dedicated to indexes' charts shows that the vast majority of benchmarks have posted substantial gains since the beginning of the year. Of course, Wall Street is moving full steam ahead, setting new records almost daily. This was also the case yesterday with the S&P500 perched at 4683 points at the day's high, up 24.60% since January 1. Europe is also boosted by their cyclical, financial services and healthcare stocks. Only Asia did not really take part in the festivities, led by China and its central power, which is busy containing the aura of its tech champions.

All in all, these are good times, and this time equity markets are growing at the same time as the economy. The resumption of global growth is one of the main catalysts for the rise of indexes, along with central banks accommodating policy, which is expected to last, despite a slight slowdown in the Federal Reserve's asset purchases.

In addition, the current strong earnings season is giving an additional boost, with good results despite shortages, supply chain disruptions and other bottlenecks that are pushing prices up.

And today’s good employment data led Wall Street to new records at the opening on Friday. The U.S. economy created 531,000 jobs in October, 81,000 more than expected by the Reuters consensus. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.8% in September. 

On the oil side, the OPEC + met yesterday and decided to stick to their roadmap of gradually increasing their production, without getting overzealous. The twenty-three producers chose to limit the increase in production to 400,000 barrels per day from December, despite the insistence of the Biden administration that called for a much larger gesture to temper energy price inflation. Oil prices regained some strength during the session, but still lost ground yesterday as the US pondered a potential counterattack.

 

Economic highlights of the day:

The October employment figures are the main indicator. In Japan, the downturn in consumption eased in September.

The dollar fell to EUR 0.8680, while gold rebounded to USD 1,799 per ounce. In the oil market, Brent crude failed to recover despite the OPEC+ decision and traded at USD 81.1, while WTI reached USD 79.3. The US government bond is yielding 1.54% over 10 years. Bitcoin is still trading around USD 62,000.

 

On markets:

* Pfizer gains 7% in pre-market trading after announcing on Friday the early termination of the trial of its trial of its investigational COVID-19 antiviral therapy that showed it showed it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in people death in people at risk of developing severe forms of the disease.

  * Uber Technologies gained 1.8% in pre-market trading after it reported its first adjusted quarterly EBITDA on Thursday. Quarterly adjusted operating income and despite a net loss of forecasts and the net loss of $2.4 billion (2.08 billion euros) linked to the devaluation of its stake in Chinese Didi.

  * The Boeing Company shareholders have reached an agreement executives and former executives of the group to settle a dispute concerning dispute over safety oversight of the 737 MAX, two people close to the matter said Thursday. One of the sources said the settlement amounted to about $250 million.

* Pinterest said Thursday it expects to grow its revenue of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter, thanks to advertising revenues thanks to holiday advertising revenue, after a better-than-expected quarter. The stock gained more than 4% in after-hours trading.

 * Peloton Interactive - The share price of the specialist in treadmills fell by more than 30% in after-hours trading after the company revised its sales forecast downwards of its annual sales forecast, as a result of a price cut and a prices and a slowdown in demand. Several analysts have lowered their recommendations.

 * Square reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales on Thursday expectations on Thursday, sending its stock down more than 4% in premarket trading.   

 * American International Group reported Thursday night a better-than-consensus quarterly profit, buoyed by its property-casualty insurance business due to natural disasters and claims related to the COVID-19.

 * AirBnb reported Thursday a higher-than-expected quarterly revenue expectations and explained that the rebound in travel would boost its growth in 20 travel would boost its growth in 2022. In pre-market trading, the trading, the hosting platform gained 5.7%, which would allow it to open which would allow it to open at a seven-month high.

 * Draftkings - The gaming and betting group reported Friday reported lower-than-expected revenues and a larger net loss on Friday.

 * Kroger’s spokesman said Friday that the press release on the supermarket group's website announcing that bitcoin payments would be accepted during the holidays was a fake.

 

Analyst recommendations:

  • Ansys: RBC Capital Markets raised the target to $425 from $380. Maintains sector perform rating.
  • BP Plc: Jefferies maintained his recommendation on the stock with a Neutral rating. The target price differs slightly and is now set at GBp 360 versus GBp 350.
  • Citrix: Morgan Stanley downgrades to underweight from equal-weight. PT down 11% to $85
  • CyberArk: Wedbush goes long and raises its target from USD 200 to 230.
  • Evercore: UBS upgrades its buy rating to neutral but raises its target price from USD 148 to USD 155.
  • GlaxoSmithKline: Barclays raises its opinion on the stock and goes from selling to neutral. The target price is revised upwards from GBp 1600 to GBp 1400.
  • London Stock Exchange: Goldman Sachs upgrades his rating from Sell to Buy. The target price continues to be set at GBp 8695.
  • Microchip: Truist Securities upgrades to $94 from $88. Maintains buy rating.
  • Nikola: BTIG downgrades to Neutral From Buy
  • Novartis: UBS cut the recommendation to neutral from buy. PT up 4.5% to 80 Swiss francs
  • Papa John's: Deutsche Bank downgrades to hold from buy. PT down 2.9% to $136
  • Peloton Interactive: Wedbush lowers Price Target to $66 From $90, maintains Neutral Rating
  • Qiagen: Invest Securities cut the recommendation to hold from buy. PT up 5.8% to $58.89
  • Qualcomm: DZ Bank AG upgrades to buy from hold. PT up 7.6% to $168
  • Regeneron: Benchmark Company cut the recommendation on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to hold from buy.
  • Shake Shack: Oppenheimer & Co cut the price target on Shake Shack Inc. Class A to $100 from $115. Maintains outperform rating.