Aniket PujariStocks will have less room to run this year as major tech names struggle, according to Goldman Sachs. The bank lowered its year-end S & P 500 target to 6,200 from 6,500 . That represents just a 5% gain for 2025. The firm is the first of the major banks tracked in the CNBC Pro Market Strategist Survey to lower its forecast for 2025. So far, while many banks have cautioned of a rough patch here, none of taken down their forecast. Equities have been under pressure lately, as investors reassess the U.S. economic outlook with the Trump administration implementing tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico. The S & P 500 is down nearly 8% in the past month alone. The benchmark is also more than 9% below a record set in February, putting it near correction territory (down at least 10% from a recent high). .SPX 1M mountain SPX in past month Leading the way lower for the broader market has been the so-called Magnificent Seven. The group — made up of Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Tesla and Microsoft — is down broadly over the past month. In that time, artificial intelligence darling Nvidia has tumbled nearly 13%, while Tesla has dropped 21%. The rest of the cohort is also down sharply over that period. Goldman chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin remarked in a note that the Magnificent Seven has turned into the “Maleficent 7.” “During the past three weeks the S & P500 index has plummeted by 9% from its all-time high with more than half of the near-correction stemming from a 14% plunge in the share prices of the Mag 7 stocks. … In contrast, last year the Mag 7 stocks accounted for more than half of the 25% total return of the overall index,” he said. “The proximate causes of the market decline are the jump in policy uncertainty largely related to tariffs, concerns about the economic growth outlook, and a positioning unwind, especially among hedge funds,” Kostin added. Where to put your money Against this backdrop, Kostin advised clients put money into stocks that are “insulated from the major thematic drivers of ongoing market volatility.” Stocks that fit the bill include Bank of New York Mellon, HP Inc. and Gilead Sciences. He also highlighted Goldman’s basket of stable growth stocks, which includes Domino’s Pizza, Waste Management and Home Depot. To be sure, Goldman’s forecast implies upside of 11.3% from Tuesday’s close.
