Factbox-From trend to mainstay: AI to cement its place at the core of 2026 investment strategies

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Artificial quality is expected to stay the centerpiece of concern strategies, planetary brokerages outlined ​in their outlook for 2026, with the benchmark S&P ‌500 scale connected gait to station different twelvemonth of gains.

"We deliberation fears ‌of a illness successful the AI communicative are overdone and expect economical enlargement to proceed for yet different year," Barclays strategists said.

Still, risks loom: ostentation surprises, lofty valuations and tariff tensions ⁠could spark corrections, ‌even arsenic analysts stake connected AI and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary argumentation easing to support ‍the bull marketplace alive.

Strategists foretell planetary economical maturation to beryllium resilient. Global GDP is expected to turn betwixt 2.4% and 3.3%, arsenic ​per estimates.

The benchmark scale volition ascent astir 12% to 7,490 ‌by end-2026, marking a 4th consecutive twelvemonth of advances if 2025 closes higher, according to a Reuters poll.

Following are forecasts from immoderate apical brokerages connected economical maturation and the show of U.S. stocks successful 2026:

Forecasts for stocks:

Brokerage 2026 S&P 500 ⁠index target

BofA Global Research 7,100

Societe Generale 7,300

Barclays 7,400

UBS Global ​Research 7,500

Jefferies 7,500

HSBC 7,500

J.P.Morgan 7,500

Canaccord Genuity 7,500

BNP Paribas 7,500

Citigroup 7,700

UBS Global Wealth Management 7,700

Evercore ​ISI 7,750

Morgan Stanley 7,800

Seaport Research Partners 7,800

Deutsche Bank 8,000

Oppenheimer Asset Management 8,100

Wells Fargo Investment Institute 7,400-7,600

Real GDP Growth:

Brokerage GLOBAL U.S. EURO AREA UK

Citigroup 2.6% 1.9% 0.8% 1.0%

Goldman Sachs 2.8% 2.3% 1.3% 1.1%

Morgan Stanley 3.2% 1.8% 1.1% 1.2%

TD Securities 2.8% 2.0% 0.8% 1.0%

Wells Fargo 2.8% 2.3% 1.2% 1.2%

UBS ‍Global Wealth 3.1% 1.7% 1.1% 1.1%

Management

Deutsche ⁠Bank 3.1% 2.4% 1.1% 1.2%

HSBC 2.4% 1.7% 1.0% 1.2%

J.P.Morgan 2.5% 2.0% 1.3% 0.9%

BofA Global Research 3.3% 2.4% 1.0% 1.1%

UBS Global Research 3.1% 1.7% 1.1% 1.1%

* UBS Global Research and UBS Global Wealth Management are distinct, autarkic divisions successful UBS ⁠Group

* Wells Fargo Investment Institute is simply a wholly owned subsidiary of ‌Wells Fargo Bank

(Compiled by the Broker Research squad successful ‌Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)