Bulls Get By in Poll

The bulls recaptured sentiment in TheStreet.com RealMoney Barometer survey this week, although not by much, considering how the stock market boomed last week.

The bulls took 37% of the vote, while the bears got 30%. Neutral sentiment was high at 33%. In the sectors, integrated oil was seen as most likely to rise, as crude oil prices continued their move north of $60 a barrel.

Homebuilding once more was seen as most likely to fall, and more bad data come out on housing sales, with the subrpime meltdown providing a backdrop. Energy equipment and services was the second-most bullish sector, and airlines were the second-most bearish.

Stocks were trading lower on Monday. Contributing to the pullback was a report from the Census Bureau that sales of new dwellings fell 3.9% to 848,000 annualized units in February, from a revised 882,000 in January. Economists had expected sales to rise to 985,000.

"The weather uncertainty, coupled with the inherent unreliability of these numbers, makes us very reluctant to run with the headlines and argue that this is the start of the second leg down in home sales," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics. "We have to wait for the March and April numbers."

Inventories rose 1.5% to 546,000 homes at the end of February. That represents 8.1 months of supply at the current sales rate, and is the highest level since the early 1990s, the last major U.S. housing downturn.

High amounts of inventory on the market remains bad news for homebuilders, and shares of builder stocks fell on the news.

Treasury prices were rising after the housing data. The 10-year note was up 10/32 to yield 4.57%, while the 30-year bond added 17/32 to yield 4.77%.

Also weighing on stocks was a rise in the price of crude oil. Futures at one point passed $63 a barrel as tension built between the West and Iran, which remains steadfast about its nuclear program and continues to hold 15 British sailors and marines after seizing them in the Persian Gulf Friday. Crude oil futures were recently trading at $62.54.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently trading at 12,427, down 54 points. The Nasdaq Composite was off 7 points to 2442, and the S&P 500 was trading at 1432, down 4 points.

Below are the complete poll results.

Date	Bullish	Bearish	Neutral	Week Ending S&P % Change	Bullish Sector	Bearish Sector
March 26	98 (37%)	80 (30%)	86 (33%)		Integrated Oil	Homebuilding
March 19	188 (29%)	297 (46%)	166 (26%)	+ 3.5%	Precious Metals	Homebuilding
March 12	421 (38%)	339 (31%)	341 (31%)	- 1.1%	Investment Bankers and Brokers	Homebuilding
March 5	694 (27%)	1133 (43%)	776 (30%)	+ 1.1%	Precious Metals	Homebuilding

Sector	Total Votes	Percentage
Aerospace and Defense	6	2%
Airlines	2	1%
Automobiles	2	1%
Beverages and Food Products	11	4%
Biotechnology	10	4%
Commercial Banks	9	3%
Consumer Nondurables	2	1%
Energy Equipment & Services	48	18%
HMOs and Hospitals	3	1%
Homebuilding	5	2%
Insurance	4	2%
Integrated Oil	51	19%
Internet, Software Services	5	2%
Investment Bankers and Brokers	22	8%
Media	2	1%
Multiline Retail	2	1%
Pharmaceuticals	8	3%
Precious Metals	29	11%
Semis, Semi Equipment	11	4%
Telecom Equipment	9	3%
Tobacco and Alcohol	16	6%
Utilities	5	2%
Wireless Communications	1	0%
Source: RealMoney.com

Sector	Total Votes	Percentage
Aerospace and Defense	3	1%
Airlines	31	12%
Automobiles	10	4%
Beverages and Food Products	4	2%
Biotechnology	11	4%
Commercial Banks	20	8%
Computers and Peripherals	12	5%
Consumer Nondurables	6	2%
Energy Equipment & Services	5	2%
HMOs and Hospitals	1	0%
Homebuilding	56	21%
Insurance	3	1%
Integrated Oil	16	6%
Internet, Software Services	7	3%
Investment Bankers and Brokers	9	3%
Media	4	2%
Multiline Retail	10	4%
Pharmaceuticals	6	2%
Precious Metals	10	4%
Semis, Semi Equipment	16	6%
Telecom Equipment	11	4%
Tobacco and Alcohol	4	2%
Utilities	1	0%
Wireless Communications	7	3%
Source: RealMoney.com