The futures were mixed Wednesday, after yet another intraday record-breaking high for the S&P 500 as the Santa Claus rally (which is defined as the final five trading days of the year and the first two trading sessions of the new year) tried to gather steam again on Tuesday. However, sellers showed up in the afternoon, and both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed lower, with only the Dow Jones industrials posting a gain.

While the main topic of choice across the financial media world remains the Omicron variant, which has continued to haunt the airline stocks as thousands of flights have been canceled due to staffing issues that are being attributed to COVID-19, some medical experts feel that the explosion of cases should start to taper by the end of January.

With much of the Federal Reserve’s forward-looking initiatives now baked in, Wall Street strategists are continuing to focus on big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues, as well as the ongoing supply chain concerns and stagflation worries.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh 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 Wednesday, December 29, 2021.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day stock. The analyst noted that earnings are slowing down, which is forcing this stock to take a breather. The shares last closed at $569.36, but they have traded as high as $699.54 in the past year.

ADS-Tecc Energy PLC (NASDAQ: ADSE): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $17 price objective. The consensus target is $17.50. The shares closed trading on Tuesday at $9.72.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $143 price target. The consensus target is $134.67. The stock closed at $118.45 on Tuesday.

Alarm.com Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ALRM): Roth Capital dropped its $120 price target on the shares to $105. The consensus target is up at $111.29. The final trade Tuesday was reported at $84.05.