Bulls Alight With Pre-Holiday Cheer

Positive economic data could push stocks to their fourth straight week of gains, says <I>TheStreet's</I> latest sentiment survey.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Light volume is expected in this holiday-shortened week, but positive economic data could push stocks to their fourth straight week of gains.

Participants in

TheStreet's

latest Bull vs. Bear survey think so.

As of 5 a.m. EST Monday, the poll, which also was light on volume, finds survey-takers who were bullish on stocks tallying 245 votes, or 69.6%, of the 352 total votes cast. Bears came in with 65 votes, or 18.5%, while those neutral on stocks this week were at 42 votes, or 11.9%.

Poll participants expect the commercial banks sector to lead gainers this week, while the precious metals sector was expected to lead to the downside.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 0.7% last week.

It has now risen three weeks in a row

and is up 10.2% for the year. The

S&P 500

gained 0.3% last week and

Nasdaq

finished 0.2% higher.

Bouying stocks last week was passage of the

$858 billion tax cut package

in Washington and

earnings from tech giants

Oracle

(ORCL) - Get Report

and

Research In Motion

(RIMM)

that topped analysts' estimates.

Tech firms

Adobe

(ADBE) - Get Report

and

Jabil Circuit

(JBL) - Get Report

report earnings on Monday.

This week investors will get to chew on a glut of data. The highlight comes Wednesday when the Commerce Department releases its

final estimate on third-quarter gross domestic product

. Economists expect the Commerce Department to upwardly revise its reading to 2.7%. Reports on housing, personal incomes and spending, and consumer sentiment round out the week.

Premarket futures were suggesting U.S. stocks would open higher on Monday.

Asian stocks ended lower Monday amid tensions on the Korean peninsula, while European shares at 5 a.m. were rising slightly.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

The poll closes at 9:15 a.m.

Here's a wrap-up of our other polls:

Las Vegas Sands

(LVS) - Get Report

will be the biggest winner of 2011, according to readers of

TheStreet

.

This is the second year in a row investors have pegged Sands to outperform the casino sector

. At least in 2010 this prediction was dead on, with shares rallying 172% for the year-to-date period. This year 50.8% of voters said Sands stock gains will surpass that of its rivals in the new year.

>>9 Casino Stock Winners & Losers of 2010

Coming in a distant second is

Melco Crown Entertainment

(MPEL)

, with 21.9% of voters believing the Macau-based company will be the big winner. Melco saw a 74% jump in shares this year and Sterne Agee analyst David Bain also calls out the stock as its top pick for 2011.

MGM Resorts

(MGM) - Get Report

received 17.9% of the vote, followed by

Wynn Resorts

(WYNN) - Get Report

with 6.9% and

Penn National Gaming

(PENN) - Get Report

with just 2.6%.

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our casino stocks poll

The

Coca-Cola Company

(KO) - Get Report

will be the

consumer staples outperformer of 2011,

according to a vote by users of

TheStreet

.

The other contenders on the survey on

6 consumer staples with upside in 2011

were

Altria

(MO) - Get Report

,

Corn Products International

(CPO)

and

General Mills

(GIS) - Get Report

, which took 32.5%, 10.2% and 9.3% of the votes respectively; as well as

Tyson Foods

(TSN) - Get Report

and

Church & Dwight

(CHD) - Get Report

, which received 8.5% and 4.9% of the votes, respectively.

>> 6 Top Consumer Goods Stocks: 2011 Preview

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our consumer stocks poll

Best Buy's

(BBY) - Get Report

stock is expected to remain stagnant in 2011.

According to

TheStreet's

poll, 53.1% of voters say shares of the electronic retailer will trade between $35 and $45 by the end of next year.

On the other side, 17.2% of bears see the stock falling between $25 and $35.

The outliers -- 4.2% -- see the stock spiking about $55, while 2.8% are calling for Best Buy to trade below $25 by the end of 2011.

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our Best Buy stock poll

Cliff Lee has opted for a five-year, $120 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies over a possible $148 million six-year deal with the New York Yankees.

While Lee's new salary will earn him more in the next five years than most will ever see in their lives, most readers of

TheStreet

were glad to see him

settle

for less to follow his heart.

As of late Friday, about 90% of the readers that took our poll felt that Lee's choice to play for the Phillies is "inspiring" because it proves that it's not all about the money for the pro pitcher. Less than 10% of voters think it was a foolish decision on his part to turn down more than $25 million in additional salary.

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our Cliff Lee poll

Facebook

founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg may have been named

Time Magazine's

Person of the Year, but more than

half of the readers that took our poll

thought that

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

CEO Steve Jobs was the better choice.

About 53% of

TheStreet

readers that took our poll think that Jobs should have been chosen as

Time Magazine's

Person of the Year.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

came in second place in our poll with nearly 21% of the votes.

Only about 13% of our voters thought Zuckerberg deserved to win the title, while 4% voted for conservative political commentator Glenn Beck, followed by Lady Gaga with 3% of the votes.

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our Time Person of the Year poll

The Consumer Product Safety Commission arguing that

lead-heavy drinking glasses featuring superheroes and Wizard of Oz characters

were intended for adults was considered the dumbest thing on Wall Street this week by readers of

TheStreet

.

As of late Friday, about 48% of the readers that

took our poll

thought that the CPSC claiming that a set of

Wizard of Oz

, Superman and Batman drinking glasses aren't considered children's products was particularly dumb.

The news that

Gap

(GPS) - Get Report

launched a holiday campaign to fight hunger in the U.S. by selling trendy new bags that they said were made in the U.S. but were really made in China was considered the second dumbest thing on Wall Street with 15% of the votes.

Gap told customers that for every bag purchased a $5 donation would be made to U.S. school lunch programs. These bags were printed with U.S. maps and American flags and even a little icon that proclaimed them to be "Made in USA." The only problem was that the bags were actually made in China.

Close to 12% of voters found it dumb that a report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that U.S. airlines collected about

$4.3 billion in fee revenue

in the first three quarters of 2010.

Airlines historically lose money during the fourth quarter, but it's possible that fees alone will reverse the trend this year. U.S. airlines are expected to earn about $4 billion in 2010 after losing $23.7 billion the previous year.

>>Click here for full results and analysis of our Toyota recall poll

Written by Joseph Woelfel and Ty Wenger in New York

.

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