Wall Street’s record-setting rally is due for a reality check, according to the latest report from Stifel’s Barry Bannister and Thomas Carroll.

The S&P 500 generated tremendous returns over the last decade, but Wall Street analysts generally see little upside in the remaining months of 2025.

Live Updates Live Coverage Has Ended Thursday Wrap-up 4:20 pm The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed Thursday almost flat at 592.77, down just 0.01%. Ask Sherwin-Williams... Why Its Stock is Going Down 1:32 pm BofA Securities analyst Steve Byrne removed his sell rating and upgraded S&P 500 component company Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) to neutral this

The S&P 500 dipped 0.3% after flirting with its all-time high, which was set two weeks ago, earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 200 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite shaved 0.3% off its own record.

Although President Trump's tariff and trade policy is headline news, another factor is of far greater importance to the stock market.

Wall Street has its eyes set on the AI trade, which has led the market. Data analytics firm Palantir ( PLTR) saw its market cap balloon past $420 billion this week after posting a boom in revenue and contracts.

US stocks were mixed on Friday as Wall Street tempered its rate-cut hopes amid economic data this week that showed higher-than-expected wholesale inflation and a rise in July retail sales. A meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was also in focus as traders looked for clues on how the outcome could steer markets.

Investors like stock splits because they typically follow sizable and sustained share-price appreciation, which is often a hallmark of competitively advantaged businesses. Indeed, stocks that split since 1980 have beat the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) by an average of 13 percentage points in the year following the stock-split announcement.