It's not even 2016 yet, and Wall Street is already revising its 2016 target for stocks
Because, when the the facts change, one changes one's mind.
"On November 20, we published our 2016 outlook with an S&P 500 price target of 2,300," said Golub, RBC's chief equity strategist. "Since that time, WTI has fallen by nearly 10% and bottom-up analyst estimates for 2016 have fallen by 1%. Further, economic trends have softened, with the November ISM at 48.6, well below the 53.7 average of the past 3 years."
It's pretty unusual to see a revision so soon, partly because it's understood that things like commodity prices and economic data can be noisy and volatile in the short-term.
But the myriad of negative headlines and magnitude of the moves seem to be significant enough that at least one Wall Street pro is willing to make a tweak.
In a brief note, which he circulated on Thursday, Golub cut his 2016 and 2017 estimates for S&P earnings per share to $124 and $133, respectively, from his earlier estimates of $128 and $137.
"We see two primary risks to our thesis - oil and the Fed," Golub said. "Oil: lower or sustained, depressed WTI prices represent downside risk to our forecast. The Fed: failure of the Fed to successfully move the Funds rate higher would negatively impact market sentiment and stock valuations."
Now, the question is: Who's next?