S&P 500 to 9,000? Why Evercore ISI thinks it’s possible
Julian Emanuel doesn’t think the stock market’s run will end anytime soon. The “long term stock market trend continues to be higher, with potential for [Fear of Missing Out] driven overshoot. SPX 9,000 attainable in next 12 months,” the Evercore ISI strategist wrote in a note to clients Sunday. The S & P 500 closed Friday’s session at 7,785.76, meaning it would have to rally another 16% to reach 9,000. “The traditional elements that end a Bull Market are not evident – recession, spiking long end yields, profound investor and/or capital markets FOMO,” he wrote. .SPX YTD mountain SPX in 2026 He also noted that, in contrast to the runup ahead of the dotcom bubble bursting, investors are now far more diversified. Emanuel said that the number of stocks on his Negative Beta list — those with an inverse correlation to the S & P 500 over the past six months — has climbed to a record 121. Among those stocks names are McDonald’s , PepsiCo , Kinder Morgan , CoStar Group and Gartner . “Having learned the lessons of Y2K, investors have sought diversification even as the Indices hit new highs,” he said. “The 2020’s AI Bull has yet to reach the heights and length of the innovation driven Bulls of the 1990s and 1920s, while overall corporate leverage remains subdued, underscoring potential for further upside – and FOMO fueled by investors preference for equities and appetite for Call options, Until It Isn’t.” Emanuel’s bullish target of 9,000 is far above RBC Capital’s 2026 forecast of 8,150 — the highest of those included in CNBC’s Market Strategist survey . Emanuel’s base case for the market sits at 7,750, roughly where the S & P 500 stands today.