--- title: "JPMorgan Lifts Its European Stock Targets, Betting on an Earnings Rebound" description: "J.P. Morgan has raised its 2026 year-end targets for Europe's main stock indexes — lifting the STOXX 600 to 680 from 630 — on the view that corporate earnings are about to accelerate after three weak years. It's a bullish call on a market investors have long overlooked, and a forecast, not a promise." category: "Markets" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/markets author: "Marcus Feldman" published: 2026-06-29T06:43:40.000Z updated: 2026-06-29T06:43:40.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/jpmorgan-lifts-its-european-stock-targets-betting-on-an-earnings-rebound tags: ["europe", "equities", "jpmorgan", "stoxx-600", "ftse", "markets"] --- # JPMorgan Lifts Its European Stock Targets, Betting on an Earnings Rebound J.P. Morgan has raised its 2026 year-end targets for Europe's main stock indexes — lifting the STOXX 600 to 680 from 630 — on the view that corporate earnings are about to accelerate after three weak years. It's a bullish call on a market investors have long overlooked, and a forecast, not a promise. This is attributed analysis, not investment advice. After years of telling clients Europe is cheap, **J.P. Morgan** is now betting it's about to deliver. The bank has **raised its year-end 2026 price targets** for Europe's three headline equity indexes, citing an expected pickup in company profits, [Investing.com reported](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/jpm-raises-2026-yearend-target-for-stoxx-600-msci-eurozone-ftse-4764240). ## The new targets J.P. Morgan now sees, by the end of 2026: - the **STOXX 600** — the pan-European benchmark of 600 large companies — at **680**, up from 630, about **7%** above its recent level near 636; - the **MSCI Eurozone** index at **420**, up from 385, roughly **10%** of implied upside; and - the UK's **FTSE 100** at **11,000**, up from 10,300, around **5%** higher than its recent ~10,500. A **price target** is a strategist's estimate of where an index will trade by a set date — a forecast that bakes in assumptions about earnings and valuation, not a guarantee. ## The reasoning: earnings, finally The upgrade rests mostly on **profits**. J.P. Morgan sharply raised its **earnings-per-share (EPS) growth** forecasts: for the Eurozone, to **18% for 2026** (from 13%) and 12% for 2027; for the UK, to **18% for 2026** (from just 8%). The bank framed it as "accelerating earnings growth and the prospect of broader market participation" after, in its words, "three weaker years" — meaning gains driven by more than just a handful of stocks. Helping the case, the bank pointed to a friendlier backdrop: **lower oil prices** (a relief after the Middle East scare earlier in the year), **rangebound bond yields**, and **inflation expectations staying anchored**. Tamer inflation and steady rates give equity valuations room to hold up rather than compress. ## The long 'Europe is cheap' debate The call plugs into a years-old argument. European stocks trade at lower **valuations** than their US counterparts — the STOXX 600's forward price-to-earnings multiple sits well below the S&P 500's — and bulls have long said that gap should close. The catch has been that Europe's cheapness often reflected genuinely slower earnings growth, leaving the discount stubbornly in place while US megacap tech powered ahead. J.P. Morgan's wager is that **2026 is when European earnings actually show up** to justify a re-rating, helped by easier year-on-year comparisons after a soft 2025. ## The caveats Treat it as one bank's view, not a consensus or a sure thing. Index targets are **forecasts**, and the recent past is littered with optimistic European earnings calls that didn't pan out. The risks are familiar: a flare-up in **geopolitics** (the Middle East truce is fragile), another **energy** shock, weaker growth, or a stronger euro that eats into the overseas earnings of Europe's big exporters. And a target implying high-single-digit upside leaves little cushion if profits disappoint. ## Why it matters Still, the upgrade is a useful signal of where some of Wall Street's strategists think the value lies as the second half of 2026 begins: not only in the crowded, expensive US AI trade, but in a European market that has been underweighted for years. Whether the long-promised European earnings rebound finally arrives — turning a perennially "cheap" market into a rewarding one — is the question J.P. Morgan has just put a number on. As always, a forecast is a hypothesis, not a fact, and the earnings will be the judge. ## Sources - [JPM raises 2026 year-end target for STOXX 600, MSCI Eurozone, FTSE](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/jpm-raises-2026-yearend-target-for-stoxx-600-msci-eurozone-ftse-4764240)