The futures were trading lower on Wednesday, after another mixed trading day. The Dow Jones industrials led the way, riding on the strength of the big-box retailers Walmart and Home Depot, both of which were up big. Despite the big recent market run, which has been attributed to systematic fund buying, corporate stock buybacks and the return of the meme stock crowd, many strategists at the big banks and brokerage firms feel that a big Federal Reserve pivot is unlikely next month and the smallest the increase in the federal funds rate will be 50 basis points.

Yields crept higher across the Treasury curve Tuesday, with all the major maturities up slightly. The inversion between the two-year and 10-year notes widened to a whopping 45 basis points, with the two-year closing at 3.27% and the 10-year at 2.82%. Bond traders see the inversion as a recession sign.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed lower, as Barclays joined Goldman Sachs by lowering its Brent price to $103 a barrel from $108, citing Russian oil supplies and surpluses. Barclays also lowered its WTI target to average $99 in 2022 and 2023. The big winner was natural gas, which stormed above the $9 level, up almost 7% on the day. Gold and Bitcoin both closed modestly lower.

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, August 17, 2022.

Alkermes PLC (NASDAQ: ALKS): Piper Sandler initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $26 price target. The consensus target is up at $31.78. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $26.45 a share.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Credit Suisse upgraded the tech giant to Outperform from Neutral and has a $201 target price objective. The consensus target is $183.30. The stock closed Tuesday at $173.03

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK): Baird maintained an Outperform rating while nudging the price target up to $264 from $260. The consensus target is $247.44. Tuesday’s close was at $233.64.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the apartment real  estate investment trust and raised the $225 target price to $248. The consensus target is $229.57. The stock closed on Tuesday at $219.24.

CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP): Craig Hallum raised its Hold rating to Buy and boosted the $8 price target to $10. The consensus target is $9.75. The stock closed on Tuesday at $6.25, up close to 8% for the day, likely on the upgrade.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating but lowered the price target to $100. The consensus target is $63.35. The stock closed over 7% higher on Tuesday at $54.59.

Denbury Inc. (NYSE: DEN): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and raised its target price to $144 from $132. The consensus target is just $96.07. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $78.90.

Elanco Animal Health Inc. (NASDAQ: ELAN): J.P. Morgan’s downgrade to Neutral from Overweight included a target price cut to $24 from $28. The consensus target is $25. The stock closed on Tuesday at $19.08.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX): Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $230 target price. The consensus target is $224.44. Tuesday’s close was at $215.99.