Wall Street's 2026 outlook for stocks

Group 1 - Wall Street strategists have set year-end S&P 500 targets ranging from 7,100 to 8,000, indicating potential returns between 3.3% and 16.4% from the recent close [1] - The targets may appear aggressive following three consecutive years of above-average gains, but historically, targets typically assume returns of 8% to 10% [1] - The standard deviation around the mean annual total return for the S&P 500 is nearly 20 percentage points, suggesting significant variability in annual returns [3] Group 2 - Caution is advised against placing too much emphasis on one-year targets due to the difficulty in accurately predicting short-term market movements [2] - Historical norms indicate that the market rarely delivers an average return in any given year, highlighting the unpredictability of short-term forecasts [2]