Stock strategist pipes down

Famously bullish Goldman Sachs Group Inc. stock strategist Abby Joseph Cohen has stopped publicly forecasting the level of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Cohen, 56, gained celebrity for her optimistic predictions during the 1990s and for referring to the U.S. economy as “Supertanker America,” suggesting it could steam through global crises.

She was named the top strategist in Institutional Investor magazine’s surveys in 1998 and 1999. But she failed to predict the 2000-02 bear market.

Cohen has given up the title of chief investment strategist in favor of senior investment strategist and will be succeeded as forecaster by U.S. investment strategist David Kostin, Goldman said.

Kostin, 44, predicted Monday that the S&P; 500 would close at 1,380 by year’s end. At the end of 2007, Cohen predicted the index would reach 1,675 in 2008. The S&P; 500 has fallen 13% this year, closing Monday at 1,276.60.