The S&P 500’s recent rise to over 5,000 points was expected to lead to a period of consolidation. However, as shares including Nvidia (NVDA) have enjoyed significant price jumps in recent days, an increasing number of analysts are leaning towards the idea that the index could break the 6,000 barrier before the end of 2024.
S&P 500 could reach 6,000 points sooner than expected
The S&P 500 gained its last 1,000 points steadily over a couple of years. It finally broke the 5,000 barrier earlier this month after a streak of winning weeks among signs of inflation easing and a few excellent earnings reports by major companies.
This has led to speculation about how long it may be until the S&P 500 breaches the 6,000 mark. Some analysts have decided to re-assess their year-end target, with Goldman Sachs (GS) putting its figure up to 5,200. In the same way, UBS (UBSG) decided to boost its year-end target to 5,400.
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Barclays (BARC) has also taken the opportunity to revise its earlier estimate and push it to 5,300. However, the bank’s analysts don’t rule out the S&P 500 rising higher than that, with the possibility that gains in big tech companies push it over 6,000 by the end of 2024.
Venu Krishna, the head of US equity strategy at Barclays, said that “risk/reward is tilted toward the bull case”, with recent data suggesting that it’s more likely that we see the economy re-accelerate instead of falling into a mild recession. Increasing productivity levels are highlighted as being a powerful reason why major stocks are rising on the back of excellent financial reports and increased revenue.
