the bullmarket rally in us stocks is about to run out of steam according to citigroup inc strategists at the bank led by scott chronert this week reiterated their call for the sp 500 index to tumble to 4000 by yearend and initiated a new target of 4400 by mid2024 or just below the 4418 level the benchmark was trading at late friday a lack of concrete earnings revisions and a looming us recession will catch up with ballooning share prices while many key measures of investor psyche suggest wariness around the sp 500’s latest breakout chronert wrote in notes to clients this week the levkovich index a sentiment gauge remains in “panic” territory at 018 while his team called the equity flow backdrop “putrid” “combined this implies this move above 4400 on the sp 500 is relatively unloved” he wrote even as equities have defied naysayers in recent months chronert remains among a chorus of wall street bears unconvinced the rally has legs bank of america corp’s michael hartnett said friday that it was unlikely that a “brand new shiny bull market” is underway comparing the current setup to 2000 or 2008 prominent bearish voices like morgan stanley’s mike wilson and jpmorgan chase  co’s marko kolanvovic have also doubled down on their downbeat forecasts this week the sp 500 was down 02 as of 348 pm new york time on track for its first decline in seven sessions still the benchmark is on pace for its fifth straight weekly gain it’s a pivotal moment for wall street strategists tasked with predicting where the stock market will go after the consensus bearish outlook heading into 2023 failed to come to fruition the common view was that stocks would drop in the first half and recover to close little changed from late 2022 levels by the end of the year instead the sp 500 is up more than 15 yeartodate and nasdaq 100 nearly 40 while big names including bofa’s savita subramanian and rbc’s lori calvasina have modified their calls those who remain adamant a downturn awaits are in for a big test as the second half of the year gets underway “while acknowledging we missed the ai euphoria to grip mega cap growth cohort lack of concrete earnings revision support implies a digestive phase” in the second half chronert wrote earlier this week “as enticing as it may be to follow the tape and nudge our yearend target higher we just do not see the fundamental justification for this yet”