Baker's Dozen for Bulls in Poll

The bulls see no reason to relent in our weekly survey of market direction.

For the 13th week in a row, bulls ruled in the TheStreet.com RealMoney Barometer poll. And they did it in a week with more than 2,000 people voting.

The bulls captured 46%, or 953, of the 2,071 votes cast. Neutral sentiment was at 27%, or 569 votes. The bears took 26%, or 549 votes.

Sectorwise, biotech was tapped as the most likely to rise this week, while integrated oil was seen as most likely to fall. Biotech has enjoyed the spotlight recently during the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, and crude oil prices have taken a pounding, as have energy stocks.

Stocks were trading lower on Monday, but off their earlier lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 22 points to 12,376; the Nasdaq Composite was about flat, at 2,434.40, and the S&P 500 was down near 2 points, to 1,408.08. Crude oil futures were trading down 61 cents to $55.70 a barrel.

Stocks faltered on Friday when the December nonfarm payrolls number showed surprisingly strong growth. Stocks tend to react negatively to any economic reports that suggest the Fed would be disinclined to cut interest rates.

Several mergers were in the news, including Forest Oil(FST Quote), which said it plans to buy Houston Exploration(THX Quote) for about $1.5 billion in stock and cash. Forest will also assume $100 million of Houston Exploration's net debt.

General Electric (GE Quote) said it will take over Vetco Gray, a Houston-based oil and gas fields equipment supplier, for about $1.9 billion. Vetco Gray is a subsidiary of Vetco International Ltd, which is owned by private equity firms Candover, 3i Group and JPMorgan Partners.

Elsewhere, United Surgical Partners (USPI Quote) agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of buyout firm Welsh Carson for $31.05 a share in cash, or $1.38 billion. The deal offers a 13% premium to Friday's closing stock price for Dallas-based United Surgical, a manager of short-stay surgical facilities.

Below are the complete results.

Date	Bullish	Bearish	Neutral	Week Ending S&P % Change	Bullish Sector	Bearish Sector
Jan. 8	953 (46%)	549 (26%)	569 (27%)		Biotechnology	Integrated Oil
Jan. 3	543 (54%)	186 (18%)	276 (27%)	- 0.6%	Precious Metals	Homebuilding
Dec. 26	194 (37%)	179 (34%)	156 (29%)	+ 0.5%	Precious Metals	Homebuilding
Dec. 18	405 (61%)	114 (17%)	145 (22%)	- 1.1%	Integrated Oil	Homebuilding

Sector	Total Votes	Percentage
Aerospace and Defense	74	4%
Airlines	91	4%
Automobiles	23	1%
Beverages and Food Products	46	2%
Biotechnology	187	9%
Commercial Banks	63	3%
Computers and Peripherals	137	7%
Consumer Nondurables	44	2%
Energy Equipment & Services	139	7%
HMOs and Hospitals	30	1%
Homebuilding	34	2%
Insurance	30	1%
Integrated Oil	168	8%
Internet, Software Services	148	7%
Investment Bankers and Brokers	124	6%
Media	19	1%
Multiline Retail	32	2%
Pharmaceuticals	103	5%
Precious Metals	110	5%
Semis, Semi Equipment	91	4%
Telecom Equipment	111	5%
Tobacco and Alcohol	97	5%
Utilities	89	4%
Wireless Communications	72	3%
Source: RealMoney.com

Sector	Total Votes	Percentage
Aerospace and Defense	33	2%
Airlines	92	4%
Automobiles	139	7%
Beverages and Food Products	14	1%
Biotechnology	27	1%
Commercial Banks	59	3%
Computers and Peripherals	54	3%
Consumer Nondurables	25	1%
Energy Equipment & Services	223	11%
HMOs and Hospitals	21	1%
Homebuilding	272	13%
Insurance	16	1%
Integrated Oil	356	17%
Internet, Software Services	26	1%
Investment Bankers and Brokers	37	2%
Media	32	2%
Multiline Retail	77	4%
Pharmaceuticals	63	3%
Precious Metals	251	12%
Semis, Semi Equipment	47	2%
Telecom Equipment	49	2%
Tobacco and Alcohol	24	1%
Utilities	52	3%
Wireless Communications	67	3%
Source: RealMoney.com