Bulls Alight With Pre-Holiday Cheer
NEW YORK (
) -- 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
in Washington and
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
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
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
.