Add Piper Jaffray to the parade of major Wall Street players that are lifting their forecast for the stock market.
The firm's analysts see the S&P 500 closing 2014 at 2,100, up 5.4 percent from early Friday's level of 1,993, and closing 2015 at 2,350, up 17.9 percent from early Friday's level, according to
CNBC.
"We suspect that low interest rates, low inflation and dovish Fed policy will continue to underpin this equity bull market for the foreseeable future," Piper Managing Director Craig Johnson and others said in a report obtained by the news service.
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"Given there are 25 percent fewer investable stocks today than there were in the early 2000s, we think the market is primed to go higher when asset allocation shifts toward equities. This should underpin this bull market for the foreseeable future," the report stated.
"Investor skepticism toward this bull market remains high, and with $2.3 trillion still in money market funds, we believe there is ample dry powder still on the sidelines. We believe the good times will continue to roll."
As for the Fed, it has kept its federal funds rate target at a record low of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008. Some economists, including Vince Reinhart of Morgan Stanley, expect the central bank to refrain from raising rates until 2016.
Danielle Hughes, CEO of Divine Capital Markets, is another stock bull. "You've got this incredible Fed providing a mattress for years and years, . . . and the jobs numbers are going to keep the Fed more dovish," she told
Yahoo.
Non-farm payrolls rose a disappointing 142,000 in August. The Fed's delay in raising interest rates means "the party in the stock market is going to continue," Hughes said.
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