It may have been a rough start to 2022, but top market watchers still expect stocks to climb over the coming year, according to a Bankrate survey. The First-Quarter Market Mavens survey reveals that analysts anticipate the S&P 500 will rise more than 11 percent over the next 12 months. It’s the sixth straight quarter that the survey has predicted a rise in the index.
In fact, all but two analysts who offered estimates for the index saw it rising over the coming year. Overall, these analysts projected the S&P 500 to reach 4,746 — up from 4,259.52 when the survey closed on March 10, 2022. Despite this optimism over the next year, analysts became much more pessimistic about performance over the next five years than they have been in recent quarterly surveys.
“Most investing pros are maintaining their faith in stocks, predicting a generally solid showing from here over the next year,” says Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst. “Between high inflation, the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates and conflict in Europe, much has changed both recently and over the past year or so.”
