The futures were lower Monday as investors and traders prepare for another onslaught of third-quarter earnings results. The S&P 500 enjoyed its best week since July, closing at its highest level in a month, following some very positive upside earnings reports from Wall Street’s biggest banks, which helped to cool the worries of negative macro and economic data. Stronger than expected retail sales and the lowest claims for unemployment since the pandemic started were additional key positives. Treasury yields climbed as sellers were busy across the yield curve, especially on the short end.

Top strategists across Wall Street remain focused on rising interest rates, quantitative easing tapering due to begin soon, big increases in energy costs, ongoing supply chain issues and stagflation worries. Toss in the debt ceiling and China worries, and the cauldron continues to simmer.

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 Monday, October 18, 2021.

AKA Brands Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKA): Truist Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a huge $16 price target. Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $13 price objective. Since the recent initial public offering, the stock has traded between $7.79 and $10.88. The shares closed Friday at $8.52. The stock was up almost 5% in Monday’s premarket.

Avaya Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: AVYA): JPMorgan lowered its Overweight rating to Neutral and cut the price target from $32 to $23. The consensus target is $32. The stock closed trading on Friday at $19.93.

Chubb Ltd. (NYSE: CB): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $200 price target. The stock closed Friday at $181.31, near the top of its 52-week range of $116.82 to $187.90.