SA Sentiment sweetens on outlook for the S&P 500. Will it last?

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Bullish expectations for the S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) have mounted going into the second half of the year, although traders remain wary of potential tariff, economic and geopolitical surprises.

"The market is balancing between a rising wall of worry related to many external events that keep investors on edge, and generally favorable fundamentals," Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management, noted recently.

The S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) logged an all-time high [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4466515-sp500-nasdaq-composite-dow-jones-stock-market-news] last week, and Wall Street analysts have bumped up their year-end price targets for the benchmark index in recent weeks.

Goldman Sachs expects the index to rise to 6,600 points (prior forecast was 6,100) in the next six months, while J.P. Morgan sees S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) ending the year at around 6,000 (prior forecast was 5,200).

Turning to Seeking Alpha readers, a recent Sentiment Survey [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfn8SUpEdleEtcizK59ao4AbGEPKxvS91VEfpUTYYW_oEBVbQ/viewanalytics] with over 1,000 responses showed that expectations have climbed for the S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) rising 10% this year.

The percentage of respondents expecting the index to end the year at 6,400 increased 26 percentage points from April to June, signaling improved optimism since Trump first announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs.

Take a look at how S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) expectations have evolved over the past months:
[Seeking Alpha survey results]
Seeking Alpha survey by Wall Street Breakfast

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