Oppenheimer strategists have lowered their year-end price target for the S&P 500 in light of the stickier inflation and geopolitical tensions over the first half of 2022. Oppenheimer & Co.’s John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist and one of the most bullish prognosticators on Wall Street, now expects the S&P 500 SPX, +1.50% to finish the year at 4,800, after staying stridently optimistic in his previous forecast of 5,330. That indicates 24.8% upside in the index by year-end based on its closing level of 3,845 on Wednesday.
“The incursion into Ukraine by Russia and China’s lockdown of Shanghai (a city of over 25 million people) as well as of other cities in China added catalysts over the course of the first half of this year which have, along with higher and stickier inflation, added enough uncertainty and soured sentiment to negatively challenge equity market performance to a greater extent than we had earlier expected,” wrote strategists led by Stoltzfus in a client note on Wednesday.
Stoltzfus said in an interview with Bloomberg last month that he had stuck with his 5,330 target — a 40% rally from where the S&P 500 stood on June 21. The benchmark index SPX, +1.50% last week closed out its worst half-year performance since 1970 as market participants expect the Federal Reserve to continue aggressively tightening monetary policy to get a grip on the inflation, but worry the interest rates will rise to levels that cause a recession. However, Stoltzfus remains bullish.
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