Tom Lee's bold August forecast: S&P 500 going to 8,000
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We're only in the first week of August, but Tom Lee is already predicting a strong month for stocks. The head of research at Fundstrat Capital said in a video to clients late Wednesday that he thinks the S & P 500 could soar to 7,900-8,000 this month. That target range implies upside of 2.3% to 3.6% from Wednesday's close of 7,723.55. "The market had been consolidating for the last eight to 10 weeks, and as you know, the bigger the base, the bigger the breakout," Lee said in the video. "I think we can get to 7,900 or 8,000" this month. Stocks have already had a strong start to August. The S & P 500 has gained 3.1% in the month thus far to reach all-time highs, boosted by strong second-quarter profits and hope that a deal can be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and free up oil traffic in the Persian Gulf. .SPX 1M mountain S & P 500 1-month chart Tech stocks have led the latest advance, with the sector soaring 5.8% already. Within technology, chip stocks have outperformed, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) up 5.4% in August, while the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) has popped 6.7%. Lee also pointed out that the Nasdaq-100 index is above its 20-, 50- and 200-day moving averages, "So to me, I think it's technically looking quite positive." "But we do think you want to be diversified. I'm still bullish on semis and DRAM and memory, even though they're correcting. I do think they're going to recover just like in 1997 and in 1998. But the recovery here, I think, is going to be led by [the Magnificent Seven], software and ethereum," he said. Lee also said that the strong earnings momentum is not only leading to better-than-expected Q2 results. It's also driving estimates higher for 2027. "Earnings [are] indeed accelerating," he said.