The futures traded lower Wednesday, as we hit the midway point in the trading week after a back and forth session on Tuesday where, by the closing bell, all the major indexes ended higher. Some very cautious updates from big-box retailer Target, which followed the dreadful earnings report from the company last month, was a clear negative to start the day, but the risk-on crowd showed up in the afternoon as big tech names led the charge higher.

The key data point this week remains the consumer price index data, which is due on Friday. Analysts are expecting a print resembling the April number of an 8.3% year-over-year increase, keeping inflation levels at a 40-year high.

The big buying Tuesday was in the Treasury market, after yields had jumped to a three-year high on Monday. Both the five-year and 10-year notes dropped back below the 3% level, while the benchmark 30-year bond closed at a 3.12% yield.

The bad news for consumers was the continued march higher in oil prices, as both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed at over $120 a barrel. Natural gas also traded higher, up to $9.32. Gold closed higher, while Bitcoin once again closed lower, just above the $31,000 mark.

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, June 8, 2022.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO): Morgan Stanley downgraded the tobacco giant to Underweight from Equal Weight and lowered the $54 price target to $50. The analysts’ consensus target is $56.83. The stock closed on Tuesday at $54.01 per share.

AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC): Deutsche Bank’s upgrade to Buy from Hold included a price target boost to $178 from $167. The consensus target is $171.09. The stock closed on Tuesday at $149.56.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating for the venerable technology colossus and has a $190 target price, after a series of new product announcements for its hardware and software at the company’s developers conference. The consensus target is $188.92. Tuesday’s final trade was at $148.71 a share.

Avnet Inc. (NASDAQ: AVT): Stifel raised its $45 price target on the Hold-rated shares to $53. The consensus target is $46.25. The final trade for Tuesday was reported at $49.07.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE: BSAC): Itau BBA downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and has a $22 target price. The consensus target is $22.27. The stock closed Tuesday at $19.49.