Another Wall Street bear has thrown in the towel

 But the game of predicting the year-end index value is just that: a game;

For the long term, the stock market still looks unhealthily expensive;

AND: A reminder, Michael Douglas is much nicer than the original Gekko, Ivan Boesky

"greed is good"

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/05/greed-is-good.html

There appears to be more joy on Wall Street over one bear who capitulates than over 99 bulls who were positive all along.

That might explain the fascination with the news that Mike Wilson, chief equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, has increased his year-end target for the S&P 500 from 4,600 to 5,400. That’s a big leap that came accompanied with a lengthy explanation.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-20/morgan-stanley-s-wilson-capitulates-on-bearish-view-of-us-stocks

The following chart traces the average S&P 500 forecasts for the end of 2024 over time, as collated by my colleague Lu Wang (they can also be found on the Bloomberg terminal at SPXSFRCS Index). Even as the projection has risen, it remains below the ever-rising current price of the index:

John Authers Bloomberg 21 maj 2024

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-21/s-p-500-a-bear-s-change-of-heart-doesn-t-deserve-so-much-attention

Can things possibly be this good?

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/05/can-things-possibly-be-this-good.html