Rocket Stocks for the Week

Not a Stockpickr member? Join the community today -- for free.

By Jonas Elmerraji

BALTIMORE (TheStreet) -- Stocks hit new highs for 2009 on Friday after ending higher in nine of the last 11 trading sessions. That streak could find another stumbling point today, as the market opens slightly in the red.

But the rest of the week could hold a markedly different message for investors. On Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee begins its meeting on interest rate policy, and though most analysts don't expect any groundbreaking announcements to stem from the meeting, a good message from the Fed could signal investors to turn bullish once again.

Our weekly Rocket Stock list has done very well lately, outperforming the S&P by 22.5% over the course of the trailing nine weeks, but last week was underwhelming. Last week's top performer was JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote), which shot up more than twice as much as the rest of the market, 5.76% in the last five trading sessions. The bank stock gained on increased analyst sentiment.

Another bank stock from our list that benefitted from increased sentiment in bank stocks was Bank of America(BAC Quote), which gained 3.89% last week. That's not to say that all of our bank plays were winners -- Citigroup(C Quote) shed 7.59% last week in light of internal problems and executive departures.

And SPDR Gold Trust (GLD Quote) traded essentially flat, losing 0.08%.

Now on to this week's list.

While the auto industry has had anything but smooth sailing over the last year, falling nearly 7%, one auto-seller has managed to do significantly better without the aid of Cash for Clunkers. CarMax(KMX Quote), operates used-car superstores (as well as limited new-car dealerships) in 46 metropolitan markets.