• Says bar is ‘exceptionally low’ for upcoming earnings season
• Notes market bottom coincided with growth trough ex-energy

With the S&P 500 up 25% in nine months and sitting at its best level since April 2022, people want to know: is an all-time high next? John Flood, a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., thinks so.

“For first time in 2023 we are currently being asked by multiple clients if we think the S&P 500 is now on track to clock an ATH before year end,” Flood wrote in a note to clients Wednesday after a soft reading in the consumer price index lifted the equity benchmark as much as 1.1%. “I am going with a yes on this.”