Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors told CNBC on Monday that investors remain hopeful of the West Asia crisis being resolved and that, along with a strong earnings season in Q1 could take the S&P 500 past 8,000 by the end of the year.
Hatfield also said that Iran war may not end soon and in case their nuclear capabilities are destroyed by force, it will not be well received by the market.
US Markets On Monday
US indices retreated from record highs on Monday with the Dow Jones falling over 550 points. However, the tech-heavy S&P 500 and Nasdaq outperformed the 30-stock benchmark, declining only 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.
A sharp surge in oil prices after the latest escalations in West Asia contributed to the fall on Wall Street on Monday. The yields on the 30-year note went past the 5% mark as well.
Earnings Revisions
A separate note by Morgan Stanley on Monday said that earnings revisions continue to be revised higher for the S&P 500. Estimates for Q2 have been raised by 2% and forecasts for calendar year 2026 and the next 12 months have been raised by 3% and 4% respectively.
Chris Larkin of E*Trade by Morgan Stanley said that the market’s recipe for near-term upside will sidestep the negative surprises from West Asia and allow the stronger-than-average start to the earnings seasons continue to dominate sentiments.
Strong Targets For S&P 500
Most brokerages, who had downgraded US equities after the Liberation Day aftermath revised their recommendations higher after the indices staged a sharp recovery from those lows enroute to new records in 2025. Both S&P 500 and Nasdaq were still at record high levels last Friday.
Brokerages such as UBS have a target of 7,700 on the S&P 500, JPMorgan’s bull case also sees the index at 8,000, while Goldman Sachs sees it at 7,600 by the end of the year.
