Goldman Sachs says the S&P 500 will remain flat through 2023. Here’s their 5-step playbook for finding returns — and avoiding crippling losses — next year

• Goldman Sachs forecasts the S&P 500 will stay at around 4,000 in 2023. 
• But opportunities for returns still exist, said a team of strategists.
• They shared specific sectors and stocks they think will outperform next year. 

Strategists at Goldman Sachs don’t have much faith in the stock market for 2023. 

In a note to clients on Monday, the bank’s Chief US Equity Strategist David Kostin and a team of his colleagues put a price target of 4,000 on the S&P 500 for next year, which is right around the index’s current level.

Their call assumes the Federal Reserve can achieve a soft landing, where they succeed in bringing down inflation without sending the US economy into a recession. If a recession does unfold, however, Kostin sees the S&P 500 falling to 3,150.