One thing’s for sure: The S&P 500 has already blown through its average year-end price target. Strategists are currently expecting the benchmark to end 2023 just below 4,100, with Friday’s 4,450.38 close leaving it 8.5 per cent above that figure. The last time the gauge traded above the consensus target like this was in the pandemic mania of September 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Bears make you smart — but bulls make you money,” said BMO Capital Markets’ Brian Belski, who recently raised his end-year target to 4,550 from 4,300. “As enticing as it may be to follow the tape and nudge our year-end target higher, we just do not see the fundamental justification for this, yet,” he said.