Goldman Sachs latest Wall Street bank to see stock gains next year
gains for the S&P 500 Index in 2024, say strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., becoming the latest Wall Street bank to come out with a bullish call.
The team, led by David Kostin, joins others who have turned more positive about the outlook for equities, like Morgan Stanley's Michael Wilson. Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp.'s Michael Hartnett has said investors have moved to overweight positions in stocks and bonds.
Kostin's expectations are still moderate: he sees the US benchmark ending next year at 4,700 points, nearly 5% above its current level, but a slower advance than this year's 17% rally so far.
A supportive mix of factors awaits US stocks, with the economy set to avoid a recession, earnings rising and valuations remaining steady, the Goldman team wrote in a note Wednesday.
This means investors should resist the urge to sell in moments of uncertainty.
«At this time next year, portfolio managers will look back and realize the best investment strategy for 2024 was to follow Taylor Swift's advice in the song from her 1989 album: 'All You Had To Do Was Stay' — invested,» Kostin said. The song «reflects our baseline forecast that despite intermittent volatility, fund managers will ultimately be rewarded for staying invested through the end of next year.»
Kostin expects returns to be concentrated in the second half of 2024, because investors will need to push back their current pricing of Federal Reserve cuts due to resilient growth, while the looming US election will suppress risk appetite.
