The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that the S&P 500 Index could have a strong year with a gain of just under 15 per cent from current levels by the end of 2024, according to Yardeni Research. Guest columnist Preet Banerjee writes, however, JPMorgan will tell you a drop of almost 11 per cent from here is possible. That is a spread of 26 percentage points between the top and bottom of the range from a veritable who's who of Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and others that recently had their forecasts published on MarketWatch.com. He wonders: Is there any evidence that these one-year forecasts from the pros have value to investors? Why are they so wildly different? And what are investors supposed to do with this information? According to a FactSet report, for the 20-year period of 2002 to 2021, the average S&P 500 calendar year-end price estimates, based on bottom-up stock forecasts, were off by an annual average of 8.3 percentage points. The poor records of predicting one-year price levels for stock markets are actually a well-known secret in the industry. If you nail a forecast you can attain legendary status, especially for a major downside prediction.