The futures were lower Thursday, after a second straight day of gains across Wall Street for the major indexes. The Nasdaq led the way with a 1.6% gain on the day. Positives noted across Wall Street (and some were of the contrarian nature) included the horrible investor sentiment, which is at levels that are worse than during the 2007-2008 financial crisis period. Other top firms reported seeing a surge of investor capitulation over the past week or so. One of the biggest items appears to be the weakening of the U.S. dollar, which has surged against the euro, drawing the two currencies in parity for the first time in 20 years.

The Treasury market traded mostly flat Wednesday, with yields only slightly higher on the five-year and 10-year notes. The two-year and 10-year inversion remained in place, with the two-year note yielding 3.24% and the other at the 3.03% level. As a reminder, many in the bond arena view this inversion as a precursor to recession.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude traded mostly lower, while natural gas was up close to 2%, closing above the $7.40 mark. Gold ended the session down, and Bitcoin finished the day up another 3%, climbing above the $24,000 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 Thursday, July 21, 2022.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A): UBS initiated coverage on the shares with a Buy rating and a $139 target price. The 52-week high is $179.57, but Wednesday’s last trade came in at $119.86.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY): Evercore ISI downgraded the shares from Outperform to In Line with a $36 target. The consensus target is higher at $48.15. The shares closed on Wednesday at $33.88.

APA Corp. (NASDAQ: APA): MKM Partners resumed coverage of the energy giant with a Buy rating and a $45 target. The consensus target is higher at $53.96. Wednesday’s close was at $35.00.

Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET): The BofA Securities downgrade to Underperform from Buy included a price target cut to $105 from $140. The consensus target is $146.44 and Thursday’s closing trade was at $104.86.

Berry Global Group Inc. (NASDAQ: BERY): Credit Suisse lifted its Neutral rating to Outperform with a $78 target price. The consensus target is $71.47. Wednesday’s final print was $55.71 per share.