The futures were modestly lower, after a brutal start to the trading week in which all the major indexes closed down big. The Nasdaq was down a huge 2.54%. Many on Wall Street are pointing to Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell’s speech Friday at the Jackson Hole symposium as a potential huge catalyst for stocks and the market as a whole. Again, the “Fed pivot” is the talking point, and many feel it is highly unlikely there will be much of a change, especially after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said last Thursday he is leaning toward supporting a 0.75 percentage point rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting.

Yields were once again higher across the board, with the 10-year back over the 3% level for the first time since June, as bond traders have started to also factor in the increase to $90.0 billion from $47.5 billion in the quantitative tightening that will take place next month as the Federal Reserve continues to offload some of the trillions of bonds bought over the past few years.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed flat Monday, after being down close to 3% early in the session. Natural gas continued its parabolic move higher, closing up almost 5% at $9.79, which is a 14-year high. Gold and Bitcoin both finished the day lower, with latter down almost 2%.

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, August 23, 2022.

Blueprint Medicines Corp. (NASDAQ: BPMC): Jefferies raised its $78 target on the Buy-rated shares to $84. The consensus target is $88.63. The stock closed Monday at $71.50, which was up close to 3% for the day.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the aerospace and defense giant and has a $281 target price. The consensus target is near $211, and the stock closed on Monday at $158.98.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $50 target. The consensus target for the medical devices giant is $38.64. The last trade Monday was reported at $41.26 per share.

Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT): Zacks selected this restaurant operator as its Bear of the Day, citing consumer spending worries ahead of the fourth-quarter report. The stock has traded as high as $55.53 in the past year but closed most recently at $ 29.71. That is down 28% or so in the past six months.