The futures traded lower Wednesday, after a wild day on Wall Street in which both the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 once again hit intraday all-time highs, while the Nasdaq was sold off to the tune of almost 1.3%, and the S&P 500 ultimately closed down. One story attributed to The Wall Street Journal noted that the Federal Reserve may start trimming its balance sheet sooner than expected. That means ratcheting up the tapering of quantitative easing faster. The Treasury bond market responded to the news with yields across the curve rising as sellers came in a big way. The five-year Treasury note closed at the highest yield since February of 2020.

With much of the Federal Reserve’s forward-looking initiatives now baked in, including the rate lift-off and faster quantitative easing tapering in 2022, Wall Street is continuing to focus on the big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues. While top strategists and economists are divided on when the current inflation increase will ease, the ongoing supply chain concerns and stagflation worries remain front and center.

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, January 5, 2022.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD): Vertical Research raised the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $335 price target. The consensus target is $325.64. The closing trade Tuesday came in at $299.42.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT): Jefferies resumed coverage of the semiconductor capital equipment leader with a Buy rating and $197 price target. The consensus target is $168.18. The stock closed Tuesday at $158.36.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL): Citigroup cut the shares from Buy to Neutral with a $105 price target. The consensus target is $101.88. The stock closed Tuesday at $90.01, which was down close to 4% for the day.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX): Wells Fargo raised the mega-cap integrated energy heavyweight to Outperform from Market Perform. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $84.57 and $121.98, and it has a $129.55 consensus target price. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $121.43.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF): This was selected as Bull of the Day at Zacks. The analyst suggested this steel stock could be a real steal at current prices. Shares closed most recently at $22.62, and the consensus price target was $29.73, which would be a 52-week high.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE): Credit Suisse upgraded the legacy industrial giant from Neutral to Outperform with a $122 price target. The consensus target is $121.24, and Tuesday’s closing print of $99.37 was up over 3% for the day.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Northland Capital raised the chip giant to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $62 price target. The consensus target is $55.02. The stock closed on Tuesday at $53.14.

Livent Corp. (NYSE: LTHM): Vertical Research raised the shares to Buy from Hold and has a $30 price target. The consensus target is $30.15. The last trade Tuesday was reported at $26.43, up close to 4% for the day.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH): Wolfe Research started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $163 price objective. The consensus target is up at $174.32. Tuesday’s last trade was posted at $132.97.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT): Piper Sandler downgraded the medical devices heavyweight to Neutral from Overweight and slashed the $152 price objective to $110. The consensus target is up at $133.38. The final Tuesday trade was reported at $106.39 a share.

Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ): Goldman Sachs downgraded the shares to Sell from Neutral and has a $190 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $224.86. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $197.39.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC): Stephens downgraded the transport giant to Equal Weight from Overweight and sliced the price objective to $310 from $325. The consensus target $303.63. The final trade on Tuesday hit the tape at $294.72 a share.

Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS): Goldman Sachs raised the bank to Neutral from Sell and nudged the target price to $125 from $120. The consensus target is $133.53. Tuesday’s last trade came in at $125.28, up almost 4% for the day.

RealReal Inc. (NASDAQ: REAL): Wedbush upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and lifted the $16 target price to $21. The consensus target is $20.94. The stock rose over 3% on Tuesday to close at $12.35.

Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT): Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $45 target price. That compares with a $53.63 consensus target and Tuesday’s close at $24.28, which was up 7.25% on the day.
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI): Wells Fargo cut its Overweight rating on the satellite radio giant to Neutral and trimmed the target price to $7 from $8. The consensus target is $7.48, and the last trade on Tuesday was reported at $6.17.

Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX): Wedbush upgraded shares of the popular shoe company to Outperform from Neutral and raised the $47 price target to $54. The consensus target is $61.42. The last trade Tuesday was reported at $46.44, almost a 5% gain for the day.

StoneCo Ltd. (NASDAQ: STNE): UBS downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy and slashed the price target to $21 from $47. The consensus target is $38.79. The stock was last seen Tuesday at $17.07, which was down almost 12% for the day.

Trip.com Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: TCOM): New Street raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $30 price target. The consensus target is higher at $38.33. The final trade for Tuesday was posted at $25.69.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA): Baird upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and has a $32 price target on the popular sports apparel stock. The consensus target is $29.50. The stock closed on Tuesday at $21.48.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG): Jefferies lifted the shares to Buy from Hold and boosted the price objective to $50 from $41. The consensus target is $47.06. The most recent close was reported at $41.27, after pulling back almost 4% on the day.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH): Piper Sandler downgraded the medical devices company to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the target price to $135 from $185. The consensus target for the stock is $165.42. Tuesday’s closing trade came in at $130.44 per share.

The top 10 ideas for the first quarter of 2022 from BofA Securities look like outstanding stock picks for growth investors who are a little worried about the potential for volatility this year.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Broadcom, Carrier Global, Canadian Pacific Railway, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, Marvell Technology, Pfizer, Regions Financial, Stryker, Synchrony Financial, Tesla and Zillow. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on BP, JPMorgan, PepsiCo, Pinterest and more.

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