The futures were trading lower as Wall Street returns from the long Presidents Day weekend. With Walmart’s earnings release last week pretty much wrapping up the fourth-quarter earnings season, all eyes have turned to March and the inevitable beginning to the Federal Reserve’s monumental task of trying to slow the worst inflation numbers in 40 years. While the concerns about a 50-basis-point increase to start the cycle, which has not happened since 2000, have diminished some, the reality is that there is a solid chance that a year from now, the 0.00% to 0.25% federal funds rate is sitting close to 2.5%. While the highest in years, historically that is still a very low level.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate remain at well over $90 a barrel, with Brent closing in on the $100 level. Many in the energy patch are thinking it is poised to go much higher if a conflict does indeed break out in Ukraine. Another bothersome metric is that the United States is poised to become a net importer of oil in 2022, something that seemed impossible just two short years ago. Treasury securities got a safe-haven bid last week, and it will be interesting to see if it remains in place this week.

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 Tuesday, February 22, 2022.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Bernstein raised the chip giant to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $150 price target. The consensus target is $153.59. The last trade Friday hit the tape at $113.83 a share.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX): UBS reiterated a Neutral rating and bumped its $88 target price to $91. Stifel stayed with a Buy rating and its share price rose to $91 from $90, while Wells Fargo maintained an Overweight rating and trimmed its target to $93 from $95. The consensus target is $97. The last trade for Friday was posted at $82.35.

Brady Corp. (NYSE: BRC): Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and lowered the price objective to $52 from $60. The consensus target is $64.50. The last trade on Friday was reported at $46.55, which was down for the day close to 5% despite posting solid results.

BrightSpire Capital Inc. (NASDAQ: BRSP): BofA Securities began coverage with a Neutral rating and a $9.50 target. The consensus target is $11.88. Friday’s closing share price was $8.99.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM): Stifel started coverage of the Canadian banking giant with a Hold rating and a $172 target price. The consensus target is just $136.72, and the shares closed on Friday at $125.88.