- Alcoa (AA -2.2%) grabs its second big upgrade in as many days, as BofA Merrill Lynch raises shares two notches to Buy from Underperform and hikes its price target to $45 from $35.
- BofA says it is more positive on structural demand for the global aluminum market, as China seems more inclined to contain capacity and the WTO complaint filed by the U.S. has helped send the Midwest premium up in recent weeks.
- J.P. Morgan upgraded shares yesterday, believing AA is in a much better position to weather weaker commodity price environments given the significant deleveraging of its balance sheet since Arconic absorbed most of the company’s consolidated debt.
- Industrial metals producers are broadly lower today after China's central bank raised short-term interest rates.