Bulls Gear Up for Further Gains
NEW YORK (
) -- Stocks finished last week on a three-day winning streak and
TheStreet's
latest Bull vs. Bear survey finds investors convinced the gains will continue.
As of 5 a.m. EST Monday, the poll finds survey-takers who were bullish on stocks tallying 350 votes, or 61.5%, of the 569 total votes cast. Bears came in with 123 votes, or 21.6%, while those neutral on stocks this week were at 96 votes, or 16.9%.
Stocks rose Friday despite a
-- the U.S. economy added only 39,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%. Most economists expect the jobless rate to stay above 9% through 2011.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
ended the week with a gain of 2.6%, the
S&P 500
rose 3% and
Nasdaq
tacked on an increase of 2.2%.
Investors' attention now turns to the debate in Washington to extend so-called Bush tax cuts and comments
Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke made on "60 Minutes" Sunday evening in which he signaled the Fed wasn't ruling out further bond purchases.
On Capitol Hill, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday he believes the Bush tax cuts will be extended for all Americans before the end of the year. A deal in Congress could be reached by the end of the week, according to the
Associated Press
.
Bernanke, meanwhile, said the Fed is prepared to buy even more than $600 billion in Treasury bonds over the next eight months if the central bank thinks lower interest rates are needed. He also defended the Fed's bond-purchase plan, saying the economy is still struggling to become "self-sustaining" without government help.
Survey participants expect the precious metals sector to lead gainers this week, followed by the commercial banks sector. Homebuilders are forecast to lead decliners this week.
Luxury homebuilder
Toll Brothers
(TOL) - Get Report
last week posted better-than-expected
, but saw a decline in revenue and homebuilding deliveries.
Earnings reports this week are expected from
Dollar General
(DG) - Get Report
,
Pep Boys
(PBY) - Get Report
,
AutoZone
(AZO) - Get Report
,
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
and
National Semiconductor
(NSM)
.
Premarket futures were suggesting U.S. stocks would open lower on Monday.
Asian stocks ended mixed Monday, while European shares at 5 a.m. were falling.
> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll
The poll closes at 9:15 a.m.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
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