Stock Strategists Slash S&P Targets at Faster Pace Than in Pandemic
Wall Street’s leading prognosticators are cutting their 2025 outlooks for the S&P 500 Index at a faster pace than at the start of the pandemic, though many still expect equities to finish the year higher.
Worries over how US tariff policy will impact economic growth and corporate profits have pushed strategists to slash their average year-end target for the US equities benchmark to 6,047 from 6,539 — a decline of 7.5%, according to a survey by Bloomberg. By comparison, they cut year-end views by 5% between the S&P 500’s high in February 2020 and March 2020 when stocks were whipsawed by record volatility tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.
For now, however, the strategists’ average target is still nearly 14% higher than where the index stood on Thursday afternoon. Barring another round of revisions lower, it would leave the S&P 500 with a 2.8% gain for the year — a comparatively bullish outlook for a gauge that was flirting with a bear market earlier this month.
“There’s tremendous uncertainty on how the global trade war will ultimately hurt the economy, so the odds are stacked against sell-side strategists who are betting on hefty stock gains from here,” said John Cunnison, chief investment officer at Baker Boyer Bank.
