(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists raised their S&P 500 Index forecast for a second time in two months, citing strong corporate earnings and the payoff from massive artificial intelligence spending.
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The team led by Dubravko Lakos-Bujas now sees the US benchmark rising to 8,000 points, implying gains of about 3% from Friday's close. They had bumped their target to 7,800 from 7,600 in June. The latest forecast is slightly above the average of 20 strategists polled by Bloomberg.
The second-quarter earnings season has produced evidence that capital expenditure by the so-called AI hyperscalers is being monetized through customer demand, the JPMorgan team said. They cited stronger cloud growth and increased backlogs at Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. that should reduce worries over return on their invested capital.
"As elevated backlogs convert into recognized revenue, cloud growth should remain well supported, helping validate rising AI capex," they said. "Across hyperscalers, demand indicators remain high and rising."
The S&P 500 has reclaimed record highs as corporate earnings surged 32% in one of the best increases on record. There's been intense focus on Big Tech's spending on AI and the impact that's having on their cash flow.
The JPMorgan strategists expect AI spending to keep climbing, with the technology projected to account for well over half of total capex of $1.5 trillion across the S&P 500 this year, a proportion that's tipped to grow.
Strategists at banks including Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are also among the most bullish voices on US stocks this year. On average, the S&P 500 is seen rising to 7,845 points by the year end, about 1% above current levels.
--With assistance from Sagarika Jaisinghani.
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