FactSet

After closing near a record-high value earlier this week, where do industry analysts believe the price of the S&P 500 will go from here? Industry analysts in aggregate predict the S&P 500 will see a price increase of 20.4% over the next twelve months. This percentage is based on the difference between the bottom-up target price and the closing price for the index as of yesterday (September 24).

This article extends our previous analysis from “A Practical Approach to Weighting Signals”1 by introducing a forward-looking macro regime layer on top of it.

With the start of the fourth quarter approaching, where are analysts most optimistic and pessimistic in terms of their ratings on stocks in the S&P 500? Overall, there are 13,097 ratings on stocks in the S&P 500. Of these ratings, 59.9% are Buy ratings, 35.5% are Hold ratings, and 4.7% are Sell ratings.

Lucy Smith contributed to this Insight The road to obtaining Class VI permits for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the U.S. has historically been a rough one, with delays and outright cancellations being common occurrences. That remains the case in 2026, with headlines announcing eight cancellations, and the repeal of Biden-era regulations requiring CCS technology on existing coal and new natural gas-fired power plants.

NORWALK, Conn., Sept. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FactSet (NYSE: FDS | NASDAQ: FDS), a leading global intelligence and AI solutions provider to the financial markets, today announced the appointment of Marcel Prins to its Board of Directors. Prins brings over 25 years of experience spanning operations, technology, and asset management. From 2022-2026, he served as Chief Operating Officer and a director of Robeco, a global asset manager based in the Netherlands.

Low snowfall during the 2025/2026 winter continues to impact the western United States. In mid-May, the region's snowpack, also known as snow-water equivalent, was measured at half of its historic median. This has affected hydro generation in two essential ways: reduced inflow volumes to reservoirs and hastened snowmelt during the summer. This Insight will examine how overall generation has been affected as a result and how power markets may react across the Western Interconnection in turn.

NORWALK, Conn., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FactSet, a leading global intelligence and AI solutions provider to the financial markets, today announced the acquisition of BCC Group International GmbH (bccg), a financial software development firm specializing in cloud-native and hybrid market data distribution platforms. The acquisition marks a milestone in the expansion of FactSet's Real-Time Solution Suite, strengthening its market data management capabilities.

U.S. M&A deal activity decreased in August, going down 15.4% with 1,116 announcements compared to 1,319 in July. Aggregate M&A spending decreased as well. In August, 2.2% less was spent on deals compared to July. In terms of M&A deal activity, 13 of the 21 sectors tracked by FactSet saw an increase in M&A deal activity over the past three months relative to the same three-month period one year ago.

Artificial intelligence has been a focus topic for the market for the past few years. Given the heightened interest, did more S&P 500 companies than normal comment on “AI” during their earnings conference calls for the second quarter? The answer is yes. FactSet searched for the term “AI” in the conference call transcripts of all the S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference calls from June 15 through September 14.

A single insurance company’s disclosure problem highlighted in our August 28 note (Insurance: It's About Disclosure, Not Investment Quality) has subsequently surfaced questions about who is watching insurance industry disclosure. When we first flagged the issue in our note, it centered on investments held by insurance entities controlled by Guggenheim Partners co-founder and CEO Mark Walter that appear misclassified.