Wall Street's well-known optimist forecasts S&P 500 at 7,000 points by year's end

Wall Street stock market strategists have largely abandoned their high expectations for S&P 500 rising in 2025. However, that's not the case with Christopher Harvey of Wells Fargo Securities LLC. He foresees the S&P 500 Index ending the year at 7,007 points.

The highest point reached by the S&P 500 is 6165.6 points. The index is now at 5,630 points, and that's just after an incomplete 89% recovery from the collapse caused by Donald Trump's tariff announcements. Harvey's estimate implies a further 24.46% increase in the US equity index over the next 8 months.

As Harvey believes, the peak of macroeconomic uncertainty has passed, and one should refrain from over-estimating risks and negative expectations.

Harvey's forecasts are well above those of his most optimistic peers. Among the 29 strategists tracked by Bloomberg, the average target price for the S&P 500 this year is 5,853 points. Hugo Ste-Marie of Scotiabank has a target of 6,650, and Tom Lee of Fundstrat puts it at 6,600 points. Deutsche Bank's Bankim Chadha, by contrast, cut his target price last month from 7,000 to 6,150 points.

Some of Harvey's colleagues are already regretting their lowering of forecasts for the S&P 500, given the strength of the V-shaped movement of the quotes.