Oppenheimer Asset Management sets bullish S&P 500 target for 2024

Oppenheimer Holdings

11/12/2023 16:40

By Lewis Krauskopf
       NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Oppenheimer Asset
Management issued one of Wall Street's most bullish S&P 500
targets for 2024 on Monday, forecasting solid corporate earnings
growth and waning inflationary pressures.
    Oppenheimer Chief Investment Strategist John Stoltzfus and
his team set a year-end S&P 500 price target of 5,200, nearly
13% above the U.S. stock index's Dec. 8 close of 4,604.37.
    Wall Street firms including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have
issued 2024 targets of 5,100 for the benchmark S&P 500, while
BofA Global Research is among those with a target of 5,000.
    Oppenheimer expects 2024 to be a "year of transition" as the
Federal Reserve pivots from a restrictive monetary policy
setting to an easier stance, with the U.S. central bank moving
to lower rates by the fourth quarter of next year.
    "Our outlook assumes that the slowing economic growth
evident in early data for the fourth quarter for 2023 extends
into 2024, further dampening the inflationary pressures,"
Stoltzfus and his team said in a report.
    The S&P 500 has climbed nearly 20% so far in 2023, within
about 4% of its all-time high, but the gains have been led by a
group of megacap tech and growth stocks in a few sectors.
    While Oppenheimer strategists expect such stocks will
continue to do well, they expect gains to broaden to other
sectors and to small- and mid-cap stocks. The asset manager
expects S&P 500 earnings to rise by about 9% in 2024.
    Separately, CFRA set a target of 4,940 for the S&P 500.
    "We think 2024 will be another favorable year for equity
markets," CFRA Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall said in a
note on Monday, with "double-digit" S&P 500 earnings growth. 

 (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Alexander Smith)
 ((lewis.krauskopf@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @LKrauskopf;))