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Amazon Cuts Up to 40% Off Hoka, Brooks, Asics and Nike Running Shoes as Marathon Season StartsReport: Next Year’s iPhone Pro Models to Keep Near-Borderless Design, Postpone Two Display TechsImaging Industry Moves From Device Specs to Real-World Scenarios, Shenzhen Conference SaysOpenAI’s GPT-6 Sol Price Cut Tied to Removed Terra Tier as Anthropic and DeepSeek Reshape AI PricingPitPro Deploys First Tire-Changing Robot in Canada at Calgary Kal Tire ShopVicarius launches ScriptAI to write fixes for flaws with no vendor patch
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U.S. Stock Futures Lower; Microsoft Upgraded, Micron Targets Diverge

U.S. stock futures fell Wednesday as Wall Street digested an upgrade for Microsoft, mixed analyst targets for Micron, and quarterly results from General Mills. Meta, McDonald's, Apple, Amazon and CoreWeave also drew attention.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-23 23:53

Microsoft was upgraded by Stifel to buy from hold with a $575 price target. Analysts expect the company to keep delivering mid-to-upper-teens revenue growth while showing operating expense efficiency. CNBC's newsletter also cited The Information as reporting that Microsoft plans to offer discounts on Copilot to boost adoption. Microsoft said in July that Copilot had more than 30 million paid seats, up from 20 million in the prior quarter.

Citi raised its price target on memory-chip maker Micron to $1,300 from $1,150, while Wells Fargo lowered its target to $1,400 from $1,525 ahead of earnings next Wednesday. Citi is now modeling a higher blended average DRAM price, which it expects to drive upside to revenue and profit estimates. One question for Micron's earnings is how many new long-term supply agreements the company has signed.

Citi lowered its price target on Goldman Sachs to $1,050 from $1,200 and has a neutral rating on the shares. Financial stocks were hit hard Tuesday on concerns that personal AI agents could hurt brokerage profits through cash sorting, and a flattening yield curve may also be weighing on the group.

General Mills reported a top- and bottom-line beat for its fiscal 2027 first quarter, though expectations were low. Organic net sales were flat and adjusted earnings fell 13% year over year. The parent of Lucky Charms and Pillsbury maintained its full-year outlook. It expects input cost inflation to be at the high end of its 4% to 5% range, citing higher spot prices for freight, grain and packaging, and new Canadian tariffs.

UBS initiated coverage of CoreWeave with a buy rating and a $120 price target. Analysts expect the neocloud company's revenue per gigawatt to continue climbing. UBS pointed to concerns including high leverage in a rising interest rate environment, uncertain competition and customer concentration, but said it believes those risks are priced into the shares. CoreWeave is down 38% from its high close of the year in May.

Meta Connect is scheduled for Wednesday, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's keynote set for 7 p.m. ET. The company's new Muse personal agent app has created buzz heading into the developer conference. KeyBanc raised its price target on Meta to $900 from $780, with analysts watching for monetization paths and improved developer relationships. After an 11% surge Monday, Meta shares took a breather Tuesday, and CNBC's newsletter said it had booked some profits.

McDonald's unveiled a roughly $8.5 billion, decadelong spending plan to help franchisees with restaurant upgrades, training and better food service. Ahead of its investor day, the company also announced new financial targets for higher operating margins. U.S. sales have been sluggish under the weight of years of elevated inflation and competition. The shares were up half a percent premarket.

Lead times for Apple's iPhone 18 models are slightly improving, according to UBS and Bank of America. Lead times, which signal consumer demand, are the days it takes between order and delivery. The iPhone 18 models went on sale this past Friday, and the big test for Apple comes next month when the new foldable iPhone Duo is released. Apple shares ended Tuesday near their July record close.

Wolfe Research raised its price target on Amazon to $320 from $315, about 25% upside from current levels. The analysts are raising their cloud revenue and operating income estimates, saying core AWS margin is underappreciated. CNBC's newsletter said it has been pleased with Amazon's cloud growth and appreciates the company's visibility to big profits from AI, though the stock has drifted lower since its post-earnings surge this summer.