Yardeni cuts S&P 500 target to 7,900 on yield and geopolitical risks

Prominent Wall Street strategist Ed Yardeni has significantly lowered his year-end target for the S&P 500, citing rising bond yields and increasing geopolitical risks as key concerns for the market over the next several months. The president and chief investment strategist of Yardeni Research cut his forecast to 7,900 from 8,400, a reduction of 500 points that was detailed in a client note titled "Proceed With Caution." The revised target, delivered on Tuesday, September 16, still implies a modest gain of approximately 4% from the S&P 500's closing level of 7,585 on the same day. However, it marks a notable shift from the more bullish stance Yardeni held just weeks earlier, when he had raised the target to 8,400 in August 2026, citing strong corporate earnings momentum. Yardeni directly linked the target cut to the recent backup in bond yields. He lowered his assumed forward price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 to 18.6 from 19.8, reflecting the pressure from higher Treasury yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note briefly surpassed 5% on Tuesday, its highest level since 2007, before closing at 4.995%.