Wall Street is betting that the arrival of a wave of interest rate cuts and strong corporate profits will be enough to push US stocks to record another year of growth. From 2023 to 2025, the S&P 500 index and other major US stock indexes have achieved double-digit percentage gains for three consecutive years. Entering the fourth year of the bull market, the valuations of many large-cap stocks are already at a high level, and the economic outlook is becoming more blurred. Although there is no shortage of positive factors in the current market, making investors and analysts look forward to it, some people worry that these benefits will not be enough to support the stock market to continue its upward trend in 2025. “The market is likely to run smoothly, but it is clearly impossible to replicate the hot market of the past few years.” Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at National Insurance Company, said. Wall Street analysts and strategists predict that this wave of gains will continue in 2026. Bank of America expects the S&P 500 index to rise to 7100 points by the end of this year, up 3.7% from the 2025 closing point; J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs respectively predict that the benchmark index will hit 7,500 points and 7,600 points. Some investors said that the current optimism on Wall Street itself is enough to make people cautious, given that the stock market has accumulated impressive gains before. They pointed out that from the beginning of 2023 to New Year's Eve, the cumulative increase in the S&P 500 index was close to 80%, making it difficult to sustain such a rapid pace under most circumstances.

Wall Street is betting that the arrival of a wave of interest rate cuts and strong corporate profits will be enough to push US stocks to record another year of growth. From 2023 to 2025, the S&P 500 index and other major US stock indexes have achieved double-digit percentage gains for three consecutive years. Entering the fourth year of the bull market, the valuations of many large-cap stocks are already at a high level, and the economic outlook is becoming more blurred. Although there is no shortage of positive factors in the current market, making investors and analysts look forward to it, some people worry that these benefits will not be enough to support the stock market to continue its upward trend in 2025. “The market is likely to run smoothly, but it is clearly impossible to replicate the hot market of the past few years.” Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at National Insurance Company, said. Wall Street analysts and strategists predict that this wave of gains will continue in 2026. Bank of America expects the S&P 500 index to rise to 7100 points by the end of this year, up 3.7% from the 2025 closing point; J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs respectively predict that the benchmark index will hit 7,500 points and 7,600 points. Some investors said that the current optimism on Wall Street itself is enough to make people cautious, given that the stock market has accumulated impressive gains before. They pointed out that from the beginning of 2023 to New Year's Eve, the cumulative increase in the S&P 500 index was close to 80%, making it difficult to sustain such a rapid pace under most circumstances.