The futures traded lower Tuesday, after Monday’s rocky start to the week when all the major indexes and the transportation sector closed lower. Wall Street pundits cited the new COVID-19 variant showing up in China as an issue. While another lockdown there is a concern, other issues abound. Tomorrow’s consumer price index report looms large, with expectations for another massive print, this time 8.8%. Toss in some real concern over second-quarter earnings across Wall Street, and the possibility for disappointing guidance, and all the ingredients were there to start the week off bad and keep this risk-off crowd in control.

The Treasury market saw the buyers return after a bad week prior, as yields were lower across the curve. We also saw the two-year and 10-year inversion remain in place, as the short two-year note closed at a 3.04% yield and the 10-year at a 3.00% yield. The inversion is often seen as a precursor to a recession, which many think already may have begun.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed essentially even, while natural gas was up a stunning 6.5%, as worries over deliveries from Russia to Europe circulated. Gold was flat again, while Bitcoin closed down over 3%, trading back toward the $20,000 level.

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 12, 2022.

Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $160 target price. The consensus target is higher at $176.19. The stock closed Monday at $95.10.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP): Morgan Stanley downgraded the financial giant to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed the $223 target price to $143. The consensus target is $186.16. The stock was last seen Monday at $140.58, and shares were down close to 3% in premarket trading.

API Group Corp. (NYSE: APG): BofA Securities raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $23 target. The consensus target is $25.38. The final trade for Monday was reported at $15.17.

Axos Financial Inc. (NYSE: AX): Keefe Bruyette upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and lifted the $42 price target to $56. The consensus target is $52.63. The stock was last seen on Monday trading at $36.28.

Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX): Citigroup’s downgrade to Sell from Neutral included a price target cut to $235 from $265. The consensus target is $277.73. Monday’s close was at $243.70.