Stocks are experiencing some turbulence of late, but the longer-term outlook points to sharp gains ahead, according to Piper Sandler. Craig Johnson, the firm’s chief market technician, sees the S & P 500 soaring to 6,600 in 2025. That is 12.8% above where the benchmark closed Tuesday. “The old Wall Street adage ‘Bull Markets Climb a Wall of Worry’ sums up the narrative of this market well,” Johnson wrote in a note. “For the past two years, equity markets managed to maintain a steady upward trajectory despite a series of pullbacks/corrections, economic concerns, geopolitical tensions, fears of inflation, rising interest rates and pessimistic headlines.” “As this Bull Market enters its third year, the combination of a well-telegraphed shift in Fed policy, normalization of the yield curve and a shift in market leadership suggests it is poised to keep running and broadening out in the year ahead,” Johnson added. That extension of the current bull market would come after a stunning rally in 2024. This year, the S & P 500 has soared 22.7%. Johnson expects financial, technology and industrial stocks to lead the broad market index higher into the new year. He also sees small-cap stocks outperforming megacap names. Wall Street has to fly through several headwinds before year-end, including a rise in Treasury yields and the U.S. presidential election. Once those obstacles have passed, the bull market should continue to march higher, according to Johnson. Elsewhere on Wall Street this morning, Baird downgraded McDonald’s to market perform from market outperform, citing the fast-food chain’s recent E. coli outbreak. “While we are confident MCD ultimately can effectively manage through the E. coli issue successfully, the elevated risk related to the near-term demand outlook for the U.S. gives us some pause at the same time we are seeing signs of an increasingly challenging economic backdrop outside the U.S.,” analyst David Tarantino wrote.
