Worries about the US construction equipment supply market have prompted broker Credit Suisse to downgrade plant hire company Ashtead Group plc (LON:AHT).
The Swiss broker said it believed risks were building around rental rates in the US, causing it to reduce its rating on Ashtead to 'underperform' with a 770p target, down from 1300p.
Credit Suisse said the sharp contraction in construction activity in emerging markets and Canada was likely to result in sustained pressure on used-equipment prices in the US, which are a key determinant of rental rates.
"Compounding this, key barometers of US non-residential construction demand suggest that the current non-residential upcycle could be weaker and shorter than some believe," the broker said. Ashtead owns A-Plant in the UK and Sunbelt in the US.
Meanwhile, Jefferies has reduced miner BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) to 'hold' from 'buy', saying it is unconvinced that the commodity price bounce will last.
The broker said: "While the Chinese demand outlook may be slightly better than it was two months ago and more metal-intensive stimulus may be coming, our analysis indicates that most commodity prices will go lower in the near term."
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) got some rough treatment from South African broker Investec, which reduced its recommendation to 'sell' and cut its price target to 445p from 460p.
Investec said in a note that the bank's revenue outlook for 2016/17 appeared to be even worse than it had previously anticipated and its scope for net cost cuts in the near term looked relatively limited.
It predicted Standard Chartered would be loss-making in 2016 and it still believed management’s 2018 8% RoE target was unrealistic.
"That said, given the scale of planned balance sheet reduction, we do believe Standard Chartered has sufficient capital to work through a fundamental repositioning of the business, but after a 23% two-week rally, we downgrade from 'hold' to 'sell'."
JP Morgan Cazenove upgraded Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) to 'neutral' following annual results last month that showed a 12% fall in adjusted operating profit to £1.5bn, although the energy supplier and producer said it was a resilient financial performance in a tough climate.
The US broker also upgraded rival utility SSE plc (LON:SSE) to 'overweight' and upped its price target on the stock to 1550p from 1280p.