S&P 500 Forecast: US Stock Market Outlook 2025

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It’s been a remarkable year for the S&P 500 Index – but what does the future hold for the bellwether of the US stock market?

The outstanding performance of the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks drove the index to an all-time high of around 5,670 in July 2024.

S_P 500 Index YTD Performance

But its performance has been more volatile since and led to some commentators questioning whether it’s become too concentrated.

In our S&P 500 forecast for 2024 and beyond, we examine the index’s key drivers, observers’ future predictions, and what is likely to influence the end-of-year forecast.

Key Takeaways

  • S&P 500 reached its all-time high of almost 5,670 in July on the back of a strong performance from the Magnificent Seven stocks.
  • The S&P rose 20% over the first six months of the year, and while it has since fallen back, the index is still around 16% higher than the start of 2024.
  • It contained 503 companies, including eight of the world’s 10 largest by market capitalization, as of August 30, 2024.
  • Some analysts believe the S&P 500 could be nearer 6,000 at the end of the year, while others warn it could potentially fall into the low 4,000s.
  • The US Presidential election, interest rates, inflation, economic growth, and the performance of individual companies will influence the S&P’s direction.

S&P 500 Predictions Summary

We go into more detailed S&P 500 predictions of analysts and observers later in this piece, but here is a summary of the main views.

Source End of 2024/early 2025 Longer term
JP Morgan 4,200 (End of 2024)
Morgan Stanley Up to 6,000 (End of 2024)
Coin Price Forecast 6,018 (End of 2024) 9,611 (End of 2029)
Long Forecast 6,021 (Jan 2025) 10,321 (Oct 2028)
Bank of America 5,400 (End of 2024)
RBC Capital Markets 5,700 (End of 2024)

S&P 500 Performance Analysis

The S&P 500 has enjoyed a strong year, particularly over the first six months when it was driven by high-flying technology companies.

This helped push the index up around 20% to an all-time high of almost 5,670 by the middle of July this year.

Although it has since fallen back (on September 10, 2024, it stood at 5,495.52), that’s still 16% higher than January 2024.

More recently, the S&P 500 was up 2.28% in August, which brought its year-to-date return to 18.42%, according to S&P’s update on US equities.

Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P, wrote:

“August continued July’s volatility and uncertainty, but in the end, the S&P 500 delivered gains, just as July had done, as the index closed the month just shy of its July 16, 2024, closing high.”

He also pointed out that the S&P 500’s market value increased $1.059 trillion for the month to $47.448 trillion and was up $7.400 trillion year-to-date.

However, the question is: Will the S&P 500 continue to rise? Next we will look at the key factors that are likely to be influential over the coming months and years.

S_P 500 Index 5-Year Performance

Key Factors Affecting S&P 500 Performance

One of the difficulties in trying to predict the future of the S&P 500 is gauging the various factors that can influence the index.

Interest Rates

Arguably the most important question is whether the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates over the coming months.

Daniel Grosvenor, director of equity strategy at Oxford Economics, believes falling rates will help to support an ongoing broadening of performance. He wrote:

“We think the Federal Reserve will embark on a gradual easing cycle this month. Inflation is becoming less of a concern and the Fed’s attention is now turning to downside risks to employment.”

Oxford Economics is forecasting a 25bps rate cut in September and another in December, followed by a 25bps cut at every other meeting in 2025.

Grosvenor sees the outlook as positive for equities as they “typically fare well” following the onset of an easing cycle, as long as economic growth holds up.

“Indeed, the average S&P 500 price return in the 12 months following ‘insurance cuts’ – such as those in the mid-1990s – has been almost 20%,” he added.

Inflation

As far as inflation is concerned, short and longer-term expectations remain unchanged, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Its latest survey puts consumers’ one- and five-year-ahead inflation expectations at 3% and 2.8%, respectively.

“Median inflation expectations at the three-year-ahead horizon rebounded somewhat from July, increasing to 2.5% from 2.3%,” it noted.

Over the longer term, US inflation is expected to decrease to 2.1% by 2029, according to Statista.

Projected Annual Inflation Rate in the US_ 2010-2029

US Presidential Election

Less than two months before the election, commentators expect a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Investors are likely to focus more on the potential ramifications of the election’s outcome for businesses, the economy, and capital markets as it draws closer.

That’s the opinion of Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at US Bank Wealth Management. He said:

“We need some clarity around key issues to be able to identify potential market winners and losers based on who wins the election.”

Large Stocks

A lot could depend on the prospects of the tech giants that enjoyed a particularly strong first half of the year due to the enthusiasm for artificial intelligence-related stocks.

However, life has been a bit more challenging for them of late, according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. He said:

“The so-called Magnificent Seven of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Tesla have already shed $2.5 trillion (or 15%) of their combined market capitalization since the peak in July of this year, as doubts about their lofty valuations, worries about increased regulatory pushback and more questions about the degree and timing of the payback for companies that are spending heavily on AI continue to gather.”

Largest Stocks As Major Drivers of US Equity Returns

Smaller Companies

Of course, the S&P 500 isn’t just about international household names such as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Its list of constituents also includes plenty of smaller names.

Their presence can mean the index is more volatile than the Dow Jones (DJIA), which has a more concentrated number of stocks.

So, how influential are all these factors likely to be over the coming months and years? In the next section, we look at some of the latest analysts’ projections for the S&P 500.

Analysts’ S&P 500 Forecast 2025

So, what are analysts’ S&P 500 projections? Are they expecting the S&P 500 to reach new highs over the coming months, or is stagnation more likely?

Strong Stock Market

Tom Lee, head of research at FS Insight, believes there are a number of reasons why the S&P 500 could finish 2024 strongly despite various challenges over the next couple of months.

These include the likelihood of a soft landing as the US isn’t “barrelling towards recession” and high-yield bonds rallied in September, meaning “positive divergence” versus the S&P 500.

“We could be seeing turbulence for the next eight weeks, but this is also in the context of a very strong stock market in 2024,” he wrote in an update on September 9, 2024. “One where the S&P 500 has gained in seven of the last eight months.”

Low Volatility

JP Morgan Research has forecasted the S&P 500 to be at 4,200 by December 2024, according to the mid-year outlook from July 19, 2024.

According to Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, who leads markets strategy at JP Morgan, market volatility in the US remains surprisingly low.

“As long as a benign market environment persists, these factors are likely to keep volatility low,” he wrote. “However, this is not a permanent feature and the volatility cycle could eventually turn, perhaps rapidly, as the factors currently depressing volatility unwind.”

Strong Opportunities for Investors Remain

Bank of America has reiterated its S&P 500 target of 5,400 by the end of the year and believes it still offers opportunities for investors.

In early September 2024, Lori Calvasina, managing director and global head of equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, confirmed its previous S&P 500 forecast. She wrote:

“We remain confident in our 5,700 YE 2024 S&P 500 price target, but acknowledge the challenges that must be worked through.”

Could the S&P 500 Hit 6,000?

Volatility Warning

Andrew Slimmon, managing director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has warned the next few weeks will be volatile but brighter days could be ahead.

He told CNBC: “I think we’ll be closer to 6,000 by the year end.”

However, not everyone remains positive. The latest Sevens Report Research note warned the could drop into the low 4,000s as a worst case scenario.

It claimed economic data had deteriorated in recent months, while the market remained vulnerable to negative shocks on growth, as well as Fed rate cuts, inflation and earnings.

Potential Issues

Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo, believes there are a number of potential problems on the horizon.

“We still have high levels of uncertainty around geopolitics in the Middle East, the upcoming neck-and-neck US elections, the cooling global economic outlook, and increasing doubts about the near-term prospects for artificial intelligence,” he wrote.

These issues affect his projections for the S&P 500. “For these reasons, we find it unlikely that the S&P 500 Index will reach meaningful new highs in the coming months,” he added.

Reasons to Be Positive

Favorable Economic Data

Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at US Bank Wealth Management, believes there are reasons to be positive.

He believes a range of factors contributed to the market’s rapid rebound following the downturn in early August, including more favorable economic data.

“Weekly jobless claims leveled off in August, giving some solace to the markets. Inflation is still coming down, an uptick in retail sales shows consumers remain resilient, and corporate earnings are holding up,” he wrote.

Such positive developments helped boost investor sentiment, resulting in a stock market recovery, while he also highlighted other reasons for August’s wobble.

“The early August correction appeared to be more of a reflection of challenges in the financial economy rather than in the real economy.”

In particular, Haworth suggested traders who used borrowed funds to purchase equity positions had to quickly sell off some of their stock holdings to meet borrowing obligations.

Algorithm-Based S&P 500 Forecasts Predict 6,000+

Elsewhere, Long Forecast has the S&P 500 index reaching as high as 5,596 by December 2024 and then continuing to rise into 2025.

Coin Price Forecast is even more optimistic as of September 11, 2024. It has the index rising to 5,965 by the end of 2024 before moving up to 6,468 a year later.

Analysts’ Long-Term S&P 500 Predictions for the Next 5 Years

What about the S&P 500 long-term forecasts? Obviously, a lot of factors come into play when predicting movements in the S&P 500 for the next 5/10 years.

Most analysts are reluctant to give a firm S&P 500 forecast 2025-2030, but some sources give an idea of possible future movements.

For example, the longer-term prediction of Coin Price Forecast is for the index to reach 9,789 by the end of 2030 and soaring to 12,921 six years later.

Elsewhere, the prediction of Long Forecast is for the index to be at the 8,654 mark by September 2026.

However, the S&P 500 has generally been a friend to investors over the years, according to a detailed analysis of its long-term returns by McKinsey & Company.

It found the mean total yearly returns (including dividends) of the S&P 500 from 1996 to mid-June 2022 is 9% in nominal terms, or 6.8% in real terms, in line with historical results.

It stated:

“There were fluctuations, of course. The S&P 500 declined in 2000, 2001, and 2002, followed by a 37 percent fall in 2008 and a 22 percent fall in the first half of 2022. But from 1996 to mid-June 2022, S&P 500 returns declined annually only five times.”

Why Is the S&P 500 Important?

After we’ve considered the S&P 500 expectations of leading financial experts, let’s take a look at why the index is regarded so highly.

  • Launched back in 1957, the S&P 500 index is made up of around 500 leading US companies and many of them are household names.
  • Its most prominent names include tech giants Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as health care business Eli Lilly & Co. and investment firm Berkshire Hathaway.
  • While there are a number of indices focused on US-listed companies, such as the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 is considered the best indicator of how stocks are performing.
  • The index is weighted according to market capitalization, which is calculated by multiplying the stock price of listed businesses by the number of shares outstanding.

S&P 500 Sector Breakdown

The Bottom Line

What is the most realistic S&P 500 outlook? Is the index likely to rise over the coming year, fall back, or stay the same?

It sounds like a simple question but economists and analysts are certainly divided. Even predictions for the end of this year range from 4,200 to almost 6,000.

Numerous factors, including economic factors and political uncertainty, as well as the performance of stocks and sectors, can weigh heavily on a stock market index.

The US will face issues on all these fronts over the next six months, so it’s unlikely that we will have a better handle on its direction until early 2025.

Do your own research and always remember your investment decision depends on your attitude to risk, your expertise in the stock market, the spread of your portfolio, and how comfortable you feel about losing money.

The information in this article does not constitute investment advice and is meant for informational purposes only.

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Rob Griffin
Financial Journalist
Rob Griffin
Financial Journalist

Rob is a seasoned journalist with over three decades of experience spanning across business and finance journalism. Before embarking on a freelance career in 2002, he contributed his expertise to the business desks of notable publications such as The Guardian, Yorkshire Post, Sunday Business (now Business Post), and Sunday Express. Throughout his freelance journey, Rob has been a regular contributor to a wide range of national newspapers, consumer magazines, trade publications, and websites. His work has appeared in titles such as The Independent, Citywire, Daily Express, FT Adviser, and Sunday Telegraph, covering an array of subjects from market trends to…