Goldman Sachs strategists, led by Peter Oppenheimer, advise investors to view any stock market corrections in 2026 as opportunities to buy, rather than signals of a bear market. Despite potential headwinds from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and concerns about AI's impact, Oppenheimer's team highlights the underlying economic resilience and strong earnings growth, suggesting that any market pullback will be limited in depth and duration. This perspective was outlined in a note published on March 4, 2026.
The global equity bull market is anticipated to broaden significantly in 2026, moving beyond the concentrated leadership of U.S. technology stocks. Goldman Sachs forecasts approximately 13% price returns for global equities, which rises to about 15% when dividends are included. This growth is predominantly expected to be driven by earnings, rather than an expansion of valuation multiples. The bank also notes a key shift, with Europe, China, and broader Asia outperforming the U.S. in dollar terms in 2025, indicating a wider distribution of market leadership.
Diversification across regions, styles, and sectors is a crucial theme for investors in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs. They emphasize that declining stock correlations and increasing dispersion in the market underscore the importance of active alpha generation. While growth stocks have led in the U.S., value stocks have shown stronger performance outside the U.S., particularly in Europe. The bank also points to opportunities related to AI beneficiaries beyond the major tech giants, including companies leveraging AI to improve margins and productivity in non-tech sectors and those benefiting from technology capital expenditure spillovers. Goldman Sachs also highlighted that tech valuations, relative to expected growth, have become attractive as of April 7, 2026, following a period of underperformance.
