The futures were trading lower this Friday, as the holiday-shortened trading week comes to an end. The nonfarm payrolls report for June came in much higher than expected, with 372,000 jobs being added, versus expectations for 250,000. Investors’ attention will turn to the kick-off next week of second-quarter earnings results.

All the major indexes closed much higher Thursday, despite some very hawkish commentary that came in the form of the release of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC minutes in which all the members are committed to a heavy, front-loaded cycle of interest rate increases, which very likely will include a 75-basis-point hike later this month.

After plummeting most of the week, much to the delight of beleaguered consumers, oil was up big on Thursday, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate trading higher after the United States slapped new sanctions on Iran as the nuclear negotiations stalled. Brent closed up 3.3%, while WTI was up 3.6%, and natural gas soared, closing up over 12%. Gold traded flat, while Bitcoin was up over 5%.

Yields were up across the Treasury curve as sellers returned. The bond market is keeping a very close eye on the return of the inversions between the two-year and 10-year notes, as the yield on the short-term two-year is higher than the 10-year, which almost always indicates a recession is imminent.

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 Friday July 8, 2022.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A): Citigroup downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and cut the price target objective to $140 from $175. The last trade for Thursday hit the tape at $123.15 a share.

Aspen Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN): Baird downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and trimmed the $170 target price to $162. The consensus target is $193.83. The shares ended trading Thursday at $187.88.

Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG): J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral but lowered the price target to $106 from $130. No consensus target was available. The stock closed trading on Thursday at $88.75, which was up over 3% for the day.

Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL): Needham started coverage with a Buy rating and a $115 price target. The consensus target is $108.63. The stock closed Thursday at $106.29, up close to 10% on the day.

Dynatrace Inc. (NYSE: DT): Canaccord Genuity resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $55 target. The consensus target is $49.63. Thursday’s close at $42.53 was up over 3% on the day.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR): J.P. Morgan resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and an $80 target price. The consensus target is higher at $105.91. The last trade Thursday came in at $80.79.

JFrog Ltd. (NASDAQ: FROG): Canaccord Genuity started coverage with the Buy rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target is $27.17. The final trade for Thursday was reported at $23.89, up almost 5% for the day.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS): Gordon Haskett downgraded the stock to Hold from Accumulate and has a price target of $30. The consensus target is higher at $37. The stock closed Thursday at $28.26, up over 3% on the day.

Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral but trimmed the $112 target price to $108. The consensus target is $118.25. The stock closed Thursday at $91.72, up almost 4% on the day.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK): Citigroup downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $78.68 to $125.16 and has a $109 consensus target. The closed Thursday was at $82.00.

Otis Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: OTIS): J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and slashed the $100 price target to $62. The consensus target is $84.77. The stock closed at $70.09 on Thursday.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PPBI): Raymond James raised the shares to Strong Buy from Outperform while lowering the price target to $35 from $41. The consensus target is $38.86. The stock closed on Thursday at $30.31

PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL): Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Overweight from In line and has a $30 price target. The consensus target is $30.86. Thursday’s last print came in at $27.25.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF): Raymond James upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform with a $23 target. The consensus target is $24.88. The shares ended trading on Thursday at $19.04, which up close to 3% for the day.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK); Canaccord Genuity started coverage with a Buy rating and a $130 price objective. The $134.56 consensus target also is well above Thursday’s closing print of $100.69, a one-day gain of almost 7%.

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT): Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating on the stock while lowering the price objective to $150 from $165. The consensus target for the music streaming giant is $144.86. The last trade Thursday was reported at $105.83.

Tenaris S.A. $40.73. (NYSE: TS): Jefferies raised the stock to Buy from Hold and lifted the $35.70 price target to $46. The consensus target is $40.73. The final trade Thursday was reported at $24.90, a huge 9% jump for the day.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI): Raymond James raised the regional banking giant to Strong Buy from Outperform and has a $70 price target objective. The consensus target is $63.58. The final trade on Tuesday was for $54.03 per share.

Trane Technologies PLC (NYSE: TT): Cowen’s upgrade was to Outperform from Market Perform, and it has a $180 target price. The final trade on Thursday was filled at $130.77.

Usana Health Services Inc. (NASDAQ: USNA): Jefferies downgraded the shares to Underperform from Hold and slashed the $78 price target to $53. The consensus target is $91.50 for now. The $67.05 close on Thursday was down a stunning 12% after dreadful preliminary results and lowered fiscal year guidance.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO): Morgan Stanley upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $75 price target. The consensus target is $81.91. The stock ended trading on Thursday at $48.46, up almost 3% on the day.

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Seven S&P 500 stocks that pay among the highest dividends look like great ideas for income-oriented investors searching for some upside appreciation as well.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Abbott Laboratories, Azul, Boeing, Boston Scientific, Callon Petroleum, Corning, Datadog, Etsy, HCA Healthcare, Kohl’s, Medtronic, Merck, Netflix, Pioneer Natural Resources, Pure Storage, Qualcomm, Sabre and Sysco.

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