The most bullish S&P 500 forecast out there on Wall Street: 7,000 by year-end

CNBC

10-07-2025

An unprecedented boom in technology and in particular artificial intelligence is poised to fuel a boom in the stock market, according to Sanctuary Wealth Management. With investments surging in AI, robotics, blockchain and other innovations, the firm sees potential for the market to build on its solid first-half rise and in fact break to new heights through the rest of 2025. "We believe the new technology of artificial intelligence (AI) is going to and is already having a profound impact on business productivity and corporate margins," Mary Ann Bartels, Sanctuary's chief investment strategist, said in a note. "All of this is broadly bullish for equities in the second half of the year, in our view." In fact, Bartels sees potential for the S & P 500 to soar to 7,000 by the end of the year, a robust 11% jump from Wednesday's close that would widen the 4% gain the large-cap index notched in the first half. .SPX YTD line S & P 500 year to date Beyond that, Bartels, a former head strategist at Bank of America, expects the index to climb another 200 points in 2026 as the trends continue. At the center of the forecast is a focus on "profound capital" expenditures directed at AI, robotics, virtual reality, blockchain and Web 3.0, a reference to an internet controlled not by corporate interests but rather by decentralized finance and blockchain technology. Strong earnings, Bartels said, will continue to drive investment in key tech companies, pushing the broader market higher. "We expect adoption across many of these areas to accelerate over the next 12 to 18 months. This is no longer science fiction – it's real life fact!" she wrote. "Every previous technological boom has led to higher productivity, greater profits and improvements in the standard of living." The trend has a number of positive knock-on effects, with various sectors benefiting, according to the forecast. Technological gains are also feeding infrastructure demands, benefiting industrials, while normally defensive utilities have become growth stocks, Bartels said. Elsewhere, she expects banks to perform well in the current interest rate environment and with the recent easing of capital rules , while gold miners should get help from the metal's rally.