The futures were mostly higher as investors get ready to wrap up the holiday-shortened trading week after a big risk-off Thursday that saw all of the major indexes and the transportation index take a pounding. The biggest buzz across Wall Street remains the plunge in interest rates, and while some are attributing the bond rally to being more of a technical nature than fundamental, others are suggesting the possibility that the reopening could run into a wall with the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant.

Despite the added concerns across Wall Street about tapering of the quantitative easing program and a clear building of inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be among the reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets even after sell-offs. Also note that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength while repositioning portfolios for the rest of 2021.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new 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 Friday, July 9, 2021.

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN): Stephens upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and also raised the price target to $700 from $600. The posted consensus price target is $698. The shares closed Thursday at $616.79.

Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT): BofA Securities downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy and have a $58 price target. The consensus price objective is higher at $60.89. The shares were last seen Thursday at $56.84.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP): Citigroup resumed coverage of the financial giant with a Neutral rating but raised its price target to $183 from $136. The consensus target is $158.38, and Thursday’s closing trade was at $167.50 a share.

Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: ARGO): Compass Point upgraded its Neutral rating to Buy and has a $61 price target. The consensus target is $63. The final trade for Thursday was at $49.40 a share.

Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ: BMBL): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $65 price target. The consensus target is lower at $63.57. The stock closed at $50.29 on Thursday.

Cloudera Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDR): JMP Securities downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Market Outperform. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $9.34 to $19.35 and has a $16.19 consensus price objective. The shares ended Thursday trading at $15.69.

Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: CLB): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and has a $40 price target. The consensus target is $33.20, and the stock closed on Thursday at $36.11.

Coupang Inc. (NASDAQ: CPNG): CLSA initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $46 price target. The consensus target is $44.83, and the shares closed at $40.00 on Thursday.

Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG): Zacks named this stock as its Bull of the Day. The firm pointed out that the stars are aligning for the oil explorers. Shares most recently closed at $88.19 and have a consensus price target of $110.18.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS): Citigroup not only upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral but also raised the target price to $150 from $101. That compares with a much lower $122.71 consensus target and Thursday’s closing print of $115.26.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): Zacks named this the Bear of the Day stock, with the analyst wondering whether pizza was still hot after the economic reopening. Shares last closed at $474.55, but the consensus price target is just $451.32.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM): Wedbush started coverage on the venerable automaker with an Outperform rating and an $85 price target. The consensus target is just $71.50. The shares ended trading on Thursday at $56.06.
Guaranty Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: GNTY): Raymond James started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $40 price target. The consensus price objective is $42. The stock closed Thursday at $32.10.

HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA): Seaport Global Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $235 price target. The consensus target is lower at $225.15. The shares ended trading at $214.05 on Thursday.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $190 price target. That compares with the lower $168.12 consensus target and Thursday’s last trade of $158.25.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI): DZ Bank began coverage with a Buy rating and a $1,900 price target. The consensus target is even higher at $1951.40. Thursday’s final trade was reported at $1,526.93 per share.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC): Evercore ISI raised the railroad giant to Outperform from In Line. The analyst also raised the price target to $303 from $301. The consensus target is $295.65. The stock closed on Thursday at $253.78.

NOV Inc. (NYSE: NOV): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to Equal Weight from Underweight included a price target hike to $18 from $13. The consensus target is $17.19, and the stock closed Thursday at $14.18.

STARR Surgical Co. (NASDAQ: STAA): Oppenheimer started coverage with a Perform rating and a $150 price target. The consensus target is $138, and the shares ended trading on Thursday at $143.43.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH): Seaport Global Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $450 price target. The consensus price objective is $446.04. The stock ended Thursday’s trading session at $409.95.

Five socially responsible stock picks are among the most popular with ESG-focused hedge fund managers. They all have ample Buy ratings among Wall Street analysts as well.

Find out about Warren Buffett’s $18 billion mistake, as well as what concerns Thursday’s sell-off raised for CNBC’s Jim Cramer. In addition, is the meme stock craze beginning to fade?

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Beyond Meat, Charles Schwab, Datadog, Deere, Dish Network, Etsy, Freeport-McMoRan and Regions Financial. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Chewy, Brinker, Cleveland-Cliffs, Nvidia and more.

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