Barclays: "S&P 500 to Rise to 5300 by Year-End"

Wall Street investment bank Barclays has raised its year-end forecast for the S&P 500 index to 5300.

According to Yahoo Finance on the 27th (local time), Barclays announced that it is revising its year-end S&P 500 forecast upward from the previous 4800 to 5300. This reflects stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth and increased profit expectations for major big tech companies. Barclays strategist Benu Krisha stated, "While the economy is showing resilience, inflation is easing," and added, "The leadership of big tech will continue."

This figure is the second highest among major Wall Street investment banks, following UBS (5400). Previously, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and others also raised their year-end forecasts citing corporate earnings. Recently, optimism has been spreading on Wall Street that the New York stock market will rise further based on improved corporate earnings and expectations of a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

Looking at the forecasts of 14 investment banks compiled by Yahoo Finance, UBS and Barclays are followed by Goldman Sachs, Oppenheimer Asset Management, and Fundstrat Global Advisors, each projecting 5200. Citi forecasted 5100, and BoA projected 5000. The lowest forecast among the 14 was from JP Morgan at 4200.

In particular, strategist Krisha predicted that if big tech earnings continue to exceed expectations, the S&P 500 index could rise to the bullish level of 6050.

Yahoo Finance reported that this is similar to scenarios previously presented by Yadani Research and Capital Economics. Ed Yadani, chairman of Yadani Research, forecasted that the S&P 500 index will surpass 5400 by the end of this year and rise to 6000 in 2025 and 6500 in 2026. John Higgins, chief economist at Capital Economics, projected 6500 by the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the S&P 500 index closed slightly higher at 5078.18 compared to the previous session in the New York stock market.

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