The futures were lower Monday, after a solid week for stocks finished on Friday with all the major indexes closing higher. The venerable S&P 500 finished its fourth consecutive positive week, with stocks extended their longest winning streak since last November, and closed above 4,231. That close marked a 50% retracement of the losses the market incurred from the January 3 closing high to the June 16 closing low.

While the risk-on crowd and the meme stock traders cheered lower consumer and producer prices this week, the reality is gasoline and food prices are still skyrocketing. Grocery prices increased in July at the highest level since 1979, and some across Wall Street feel the chances of prices dropping any time soon are very unlikely.

Yields were down across the Treasury curve Friday, after a big spike higher Thursday, as the volatility in the government securities market persists with big bouts of selling and buying like we have seen so far in August. The dreaded two-year and 10-year inversion stayed in place last week, with the two-year note closing at a 3.25% yield and the 10-year note at 2.85%. Again, the bond market sees the inversion as a harbinger of recession, which technically we are already in.

Prices were lower across the energy complex, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closing down on Friday. Natural gas took a breather after a torrid week, closing at $8.77, down just over 1%. Gold and Bitcoin both closed modestly higher Friday.

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 Monday, August 15, 2022.

Alliant Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: LNT): BofA Securities increased the $62 target price on the Buy-rated stock to $70. The consensus target is $63.67. The stock close almost 3% higher on Friday at $63.65.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $117 target price. The consensus price objective is $94.38. The stock was last seen on Friday at $86.60, close to a 3% gain for the day.

Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG): Wolfe Research began covering the stock with an Outperform rating and a $127 target price. The stock has traded at $128.40 in the past year but closed on Friday at $101.24.