Too Bullish or Just Right? 8/17/26

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**Scott Wapner** (1:00)
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All right, guys, thanks so much. Welcome to the Halftime Report. I'm Scott Wapner. Front and center of this hour, this record setting market. Stocks on a three week winning streak, but are investors growing too bullish? We'll ask the committee. Joining me for the hour, Joe Terranova, Shannon Sikos, Jim Laventhal, and Stephen Weiss. Check the markets here. We obviously have a little bit of a give back today on everything but the NASDAQ, which is green. So we're three week winning streak. The VIX fell to its lowest level of the year on Friday. Every sector within this market is now in the green for the year. Ed Yardeny had already taken his target to 8,400 for 2026, says we're going to 10,000 or beyond by the end of the decade. The roaring 20s in full effect. Why? Because earnings are amazing. Evercore this morning, long term stock market trend continues to be higher. We have the potential for a FOMO driven overshoot. SPX 9,000 is attainable in the next 12 months, even if you don't overshoot on evaluation standpoint.
Joe, what say you?

**Joe Terranova** (2:17)
I think you get to 10,000 in the next 18 months. I see no reason why not.
I agree with the representation of earnings being at really a historic pace for the last seven quarters.
The market is kind of settling in as you move towards the back end of August.
I'm hearing a lot of people say, okay, look at the market and maybe this is the opportunity to sell. There's universal bullishness and that's the reason to sell. And I couldn't disagree more with that. I think really what's happening is you move towards the end of August, as the market is becoming more tactical. The market is identifying opportunities and maintaining those opportunities. So memory came back last week, optical came back. We're maintaining that position, we're rebuilding positioning, the bullish momentum remains in place. Energy, we've spoken about the refiners, same example there. Rebuild positioning, maintain positioning, and then financials. Look, once again today, I'm looking. We've got Bank of America, 52 Week High, State Street, Charles Schwab, PNC. So there's strength in financials as well. The market is more tactical. And just because it appears as though maybe volatility and the environment is a little bit slower, the market's not moving as fast, that is not a reason to sell. That's actually indicative of a market that is waiting to reaccelerate as we move into the fall and broaden out once again.

**Scott Wapner** (3:45)
Okay, thankfully Weiss is not maintaining his positioning because he is no longer blending in with the wall. So we appreciate that. Appreciate you putting a new piece of art up, Weiss.
What about you on this market? Yardeni, 10,000 by the end of the decade, 9,000 by the end of the, in 12 months for Evercore, 10,000 from Terra Nova. People are pretty bullish. I asked a question, too bullish or just right?

**Stephen Weiss** (4:13)
You know, I try to, I'm bullish as well, and I try to think of what can do real the bullishness. We know earnings are good, and there's every reason to believe they'll accelerate, live driven by AI. So what are the obvious things that could hit it? Number one, if rates go up measurably, if the Fed starts tightening, and that'll be because of oil, or the consumer, which is still two-thirds of the economy, starts to weaken further. Now, I think the market is going to look both past oil and the consumer, because it's really one and the same thing.