Bulls Only Club: Wall Street Strategists Finally Agree on Something
Wall Street strategists unite in rare unanimous optimism, forecasting a fourth straight year of gains for the S&P 500 amid resilient earnings and AI momentum.
As the final trading sessions of 2025 wrap up with the S&P 500 hovering near record highs around 6,930 after a nearly 18% surge this year, something remarkable has happened on Wall Street. For the first time in years, the sell-side crowd has fallen into perfect harmony, and it's all upbeat. A fresh Bloomberg survey of 21 top strategists from major banks and boutique firms reveals not a single bear in the bunch. Every one forecasts gains for the benchmark index in 2026, pointing to an average year-end target of about 7,555, which translates to roughly 9% upside from late-December levels.
This lockstep optimism would deliver a fourth consecutive year of annual advances, the longest such streak since the run-up to the global financial crisis nearly two decades ago. After the S&P 500 has soared some 90% from its October 2022 trough, fueled by resilient growth and massive AI investments, forecasters are betting the momentum carries forward. Corporate earnings are expected to grow double-digits again, broadening beyond the tech giants that drove nearly half the gains this year, while Federal Reserve rate cuts and pro-growth policies provide tailwinds.

