By Levin Stamm

(Bloomberg) -- Oppenheimer Asset Management’s John Stoltzfus expects the S&P 500 to rally 18% next year, becoming the most optimistic forecaster among those tracked by Bloomberg for a third year running.

The strategist expects the benchmark to trade around 8,100 points by end-2026 on the back of robust economic growth and monetary policy easing. His bullishness proved prescient this year, too, with the S&P 500 now about 3% away from his end-2025 target.

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“We remain positive on stocks and regard it as our favorite asset class,” Stoltzfus wrote in a note. Accommodative monetary and fiscal policy as well as strong corporate earnings are at the “core of what lies ahead for our 2026 target price,” he added.

US stocks are enjoying a third straight year of double-digit gains as investors are confident the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates even as economic growth remains resilient. Fears of a global trade war and a potential technology bubble have proved short-lived so far.

For next year, Stoltzfus has plenty of company in his optimism with teams at Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets all predicting rallies of more than 10%.

Money managers are also broadly bullish. Over three-quarters of asset managers polled in an informal Bloomberg survey across Asia, Europe and the US said they were positioning for a risk-on environment through 2026.

Oppenheimer’s Stoltzfus reiterated a preference for economy-linked cyclical sectors over safer, defensive stocks. His top picks are information technology, communications services, industrials, financials and consumer discretionary.

--With assistance from Sagarika Jaisinghani.

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