Bulls Shake Off Weak Jobs Report

Updated from 5 a.m. EST

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A U.S. unemployment rate of 10.2% could weigh heavily on the minds of investors this week, but sentiment this week is still running bullish, says the TheStreet.com RealMoney Barometer Survey.

The precious metals sector, like last week, was viewed as the sector most likely to rise, according to participants in the poll. Commercial banks placed second.

Gold for December delivery was trading Monday at $1,107.70 an ounce, up $12, as investors continued their race to this safe haven. It surpassed $1,109 an ounce earlier in the session. Gold crossed $1,100 an ounce on Friday and has been on a tear in 2009.

Voters in the survey chose commercial banks as the sector most likely to decline this week. This bearish sentiment on banks has become something of the norm for poll participants.

As of 6:45 a.m. EST Monday, the bulls were outgunning the bears in the survey, taking 296, or 46.6%, of the 635 votes cast. The bears had 234, or 36.9%, of the votes cast. Neutral tallied 105 votes, or 16.5%.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

The poll closes at 9:15 a.m.

Earnings reports are somewhat light as the week kicks off -- retailers Wal-Mart(WMT), Macy's(M) and J.C. Penney(JCP) report later this week -- so investors could spend some extra time poring over the unemployment numbers from Friday.

The Labor Department said the U.S. economy lost 190,000 jobs last month, slightly more than economists had expected. The number that troubled investors more was the unemployment rate, which jumped to 10.2% from 9.8% in September, the highest level in 26 years.