Fundstrat's Lee joins Wall Street bulls in calling for S&P at 8,000

Fundstrat Global Advisors' Tom Lee has joined a growing chorus of Wall Street bulls forecasting the S & P 500 will end the year at 8,000. Lee raised his target from 7,700 as stronger corporate earnings offset a more conservative valuation outlook. The move brings him broadly into line with optimistic forecasts from major investment banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, both of which have already called for year-end targets for the U.S. benchmark at 8,000 and 8,100 respectively . Fundstrat said the higher target was driven primarily by improving earnings expectations rather than richer valuations. "We are giving a mid-year update and raising our year-end target for S & P 500 to 8,000 from 7,700. This is mainly due to higher EPS for 2027 and we have a lower target P/E," Lee wrote in a note on Wednesday. The firm said it continues to expect price-to-earnings multiples to expand and maintained that artificial intelligence investment, energy infrastructure spending, onshoring and blockchain adoption on Wall Street remain the key drivers of earnings and economic growth this year. Even so, Lee cautioned that the path to the higher target is unlikely to be smooth. …