There is only one big short seller left in Wall Street's forest of stock market opinionpiratesofthecaribbeanpinballmachineAfter Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson defected on Monday, only JPMorgan Chase's Marko Kolanovic maintained a pessimistic view of U.S. stocks.

In a note to clients late Monday, Kolanovic reiterated his view, calling for not buying stocks, while acknowledging that such negative views have damaged JPMorgan's portfolio allocation model as global stock markets have risen to record highs over the past year. He listed a range of reasons for continuing to be bearish, including high valuations, the possibility that interest rates will remain restrictive for a longer period of time, rising inflation data, consumer pressure and geopolitical uncertainty.

"The negative stance on stocks has damaged the performance of our multi-asset portfolio over the past year," Kolanovic admitted. He also added,"We don't currently believe stocks are an attractive investment, and we don't see any reason to change our stance."

Kolanovic is now the last dissident among Wall Street's equity strategists after Morgan Stanley's Wilson turned bullish on U.S. stocks on Monday. Wilson now expects the S & P 500 to rise to 5,400 points by June 2025, a departure from his previous forecast that the index would fall by 15% by December.

Among Wall Street banks, JPMorgan Chase has the lowest year-end target for the S & P 500 index at 4,200 points, implying more than 20% downside from Monday's close.

The second-lowest year-end target came from Citigroup, which gave a forecast of 5,100 points, indicating that the market may decline moderately from current levels. Goldman Sachs 'target of 5,200 points also signaled that there was no more room for growth. But none of the banks 'top equity strategists, Scott Chronert or David Kostin, warned of an impending slump, as did the JPMorgan team.

At the same time, Bank of America and Wells Fargo expect the S & P 500 to rise further, setting year-end targets of 5,400 and 5,535 respectively. Both banks raised their original estimates as U.S. stocks continued to climb on the back of strong economic and corporate earnings and a continuing AI boom.

Kolanovic's outlook for U.S. stocks fell short for three consecutive years. Although he predicts a decline, the S & P 500 has risen 11% so far in 2024. He was also bearish last year, but the stock market rose 24%. He was bullish for most of 2022, and the market fell 19% that year.