The futures traded higher Friday, as we look to close out a volatile trading week and begin the fourth quarter, after an ugly Thursday that saw all of the major indexes down big. The song remains the same, as concerns over rising prices and inflation combined with big supply-chain disruptions continue to keep a lid on risk-off market action. With the S&P 500 up just 1.4% for the third quarter, but down over 3.5% in September, it appears that traders are taking a much more cautious stance.

Though the recent consumer price index and retail sales data has tempered some of the inflation and growth worries, mounting stagflation concerns continued to pick up, amid the ongoing supply chain and input pressures and recovery headwinds from the spread of the Delta variant. Federal Reserve assurances that rates will remain accommodative continue to provide a tailwind for equities though.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, October 1, 2021.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): Raymond James downgraded shares of the Chinese internet giant to Outperform from Strong Buy and slashed the target price to $240 from $300. The consensus target price is $256.26. The shares closed trading on Thursday at $148.05.

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN): Credit Suisse resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $732 price target. The consensus target is $743.46, and Thursday’s closing trade was at $665.43 a share.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the technology giant with an Outperform rating and a $4,150 price target. The posted consensus target is in line at $4,149.52. The final Thursday trade was reported at $3,285.04 per share.