S&P 500 hits record high, COVID-19 cases seen peaking

Markets were mostly little-changed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to a record high while the STOXX Europe 600 was flat and Asian markets were mixed.

Analysts are optimistic on stocks.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said in a note to clients on Tuesday that “we are shifting further into full risk-on” while Wells Fargo Securities head of equity strategy Christopher Harvey lifted his year-end S&P 500 target to 4,825.

On the COVID-19 pandemic front, some optimism is creeping in again.

Lee noted an “apexing of COVID-19 cases in a number of states” in the US while Tapas Strickland, director of economics and markets at the National Australia Bank, wrote that “China’s delta outbreak also appears to be under control with two consecutive days of no new domestic cases”.

Elsewhere, though, the picture remains grim. COVID-19 cases continues to surge in Australia, with New South Wales in particular hitting another daily record of 1029 infections, while Japan's government has decided to extend its pandemic state of emergency to eight more regions.