Banks Citigroup (C) and UBS (UBS) have each raised their year-end targets for the benchmark S&P 500 index (SPY) as the market rally continues.
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The banks cited declining policy risks and resilient corporate earnings as the reasons for their bullish upgrades to the S&P 500. Citigroup lifted its target for the S&P 500 to 6,600 from 6,300, while UBS took its year-end target on the index to 6,100 from 5,500.
This was Citigroup’s second upward revision to the S&P 500 in the past two months. UBS, however, had trimmed its target in April after U.S. President Donald Trump introduced tariffs. The Citigroup and UBS upgrades follow similar recent increases from Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC).
Bullish Outlooks
Among Wall Street firms, Oppenheimer (OPY) sees the S&P 500 climbing as high as 7,100, the highest forecast among banks and brokerages. Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) is the only Wall Street concern to set a year-end target for the S&P 500 that is below 6,000, at 5,600.
UBS said in a note to clients that it expects a short-term dip in the market, with the index correcting to 5,900 late in the current third quarter before recovering to 6,100 by year’s end and then hitting 6,800 by the end of 2026. Citigroup says impacts from U.S. tariffs are baked into the market and that stocks should benefit from President Trump’s spending bill and continued strength in corporate earnings.
Is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust a Buy?
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 504 analysts. That rating is based on 428 Buy, 72 Hold, and four Sell recommendations issued in the last three months. The average SPY price target of $710.54 implies 11.55% upside from current levels.
