The futures were higher on Wednesday, after another train wreck of a trading session on Tuesday. All the major indexes were hammered, with the Nasdaq now having its worst month since the fall of 2008. The safe-haven Utility index was the only sector that was not destroyed.

Worldwide growth concerns remain a major issue across Wall Street, as China continues its massive and unprecedented lockdowns to go along with a gigantic COVID-19 testing effort that some fear could initiate even more of the draconian Chinese efforts to contain the virus. Toss in a threat cited by Bloomberg that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov warned western countries that there is a “considerable” chance of nuclear war if weapon deliveries to Ukraine continue, and that was all we needed for the massive Tuesday meltdown.

Yields dropped on Treasury securities once again, and despite the upcoming interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve (the next one which will come at the May meeting next week), worried investors rushed again into the safety of the U.S. debt. Both the five-year and 10-year note yields dropped six basis points. The energy complex was up across the board, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closing higher, and natural gas jumped almost 3%. Gold closed the day higher as well.

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, April 27, 2022.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the video game giant and has a $95 target price. The consensus target is $94.37. The final trade on Tuesday was posted at $77.06.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the Conviction List member, citing the big pullback on the shares recently, and the firm has a $110 price target. The consensus target is $91.67, and the closing share price on Tuesday was $66.97.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Baird maintained an Underperform rating on the biotech giant, citing the end of the company’s giant $6 billion buyback as a key point going forward. The firm’s $185 price target is much lower than the $247.94 consensus target. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $249.87.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK): J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and cut the $59 target price to $51.50. The consensus target is $55.83. The stock closed on Tuesday at $43.26.