JP Morgan's Dubravko Lakos-Bujas and team raised their S&P 500 Index forecast for a second time in two months now seeing the benchmark rising to 8,000 (about +3% from Friday’s close) after bumping their target to 7,800 from 7,600 in June.

The second-quarter earnings season has produced evidence that capital expenditure by the so-called AI hyperscalers is being monetized through customer demand, the team said. “As elevated backlogs convert into recognized revenue, cloud growth should remain well supported, helping validate rising AI capex,” they said. “Across hyperscalers, demand indicators remain high and rising.”