The futures were trading lower, as investors return from the long Independence Day weekend. All the major indexes rallied big last Friday and closed higher to start the third quarter and the second half of 2022, despite a slew of bad economic data. The very oversold conditions played a part perhaps, and with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 trading in bear market territory, that also may have been what brought out the bargain-hunting risk-off crowd.

One warning shot that was fired was the continued rally in the Treasury market, where yields across the curve Friday were lower again, especially the five-year and 10-year notes. Investors running to safe-haven investments like Treasury bonds and utility stocks, which also closed higher on Friday, shows there are major concerns going forward.

The latest data from the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker is now in negative territory, predicting second-quarter real GDP growth of −2.078% as of July 1, down from +0.3% on June 27. If that is indeed the case (and as we have said for some time), we will be in a recession, which by definition is two straight quarters of negative GDP. Remember that the final first quarter numbers last week were revised down to −1.6%.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed higher on Friday, as did natural gas, which got run over last week. Gold closed modestly higher, while Bitcoin was hammered once again, closing down close to 4%.

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, July 5, 2022.

Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $210 target price. The consensus target is $198.38. The last trade Friday was posted at $157.84.

Bally’s Corp. (NYSE: BALY): Stifel slashed its $49 target price on the resort and casino giant to $29, but it kept a Buy rating and a positive long-term outlook on the stock. The consensus target is $41.43. The stock closed trading last Friday at $20.22.

Canopy Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: CGC): BofA Securities lowered its $3 price target on the marijuana stock to $2.33 and stayed with an Underperform rating. The consensus target is up at $6.88. The closing share price on Friday was $2.81.

Certara Inc. (NASDAQ: CERT): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $28 target price. The consensus target is $25.00. The stock closed almost 3% higher on Friday at $22.09.