Metals Shine Brightest in Bull/Bear Poll

Updated with final poll results

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A trading week that ended to the downside despite better-than-expected earnings reports from Microsoft(MSFT) and Amazon.com (AMZN) hasn't damped the enthusiasm of bulls as a new week filled with more corporate earnings reports and a bevy of economic data gets ready to kick off.

Sentiment this week -- as it was prior to the beginning of last week - is bullish, according to TheStreet.com RealMoney Barometer Survey, with the precious metals sector seen as the one most likely to rise. Gold futures have been on a wild ride, a ride mostly higher, as the precious metal trades near the record of about $1,072 an ounce it touched in the middle of the month. Gold has ended higher the past four weeks as the dollar has retreated and as gold increasingly is looked at as a hedge against inflation.

Gold for December delivery recently was down 10 cents to $1,056.30 an ounce.

Another sector that poll participants expect to rise this week is integrated oil. This week is a big one for the oil majors with ConocoPhillips(COP), BP(BP), Valero Energy(VLO), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron(CVX) scheduled to issue earnings reports.

Sales and profits at these names are expected to fall from last year when oil was trading close to $150 a barrel. Oil is trading at almost half that now, but is still at year highs of more than $80. Oil recently was up 70 cents to $81.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Once again, commercial banks can't get any love from those taking part in the poll as the sector is viewed, by an overwhelming margin, as the one most likely to fall this week. Most of the big banks -- such as Bank of America(BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) -- already have issued earnings. The reports were generally been positive with signs of credit losses easing.

The bulls outweighed the bears in TheStreet.com RealMoney Barometer, taking 418, or 45.5%, of the 919 votes cast. The bears tallied 358, or 39, of the votes cast. Neutral took 143, or 15.6%.

> > Bulls Outweigh Bears in Final Poll Results