Bulls Expect an Equities Boost
NEW YORK (
) -- Stocks are predicted to edge higher during this holiday-shortened week, according to
TheStreet's
latest Bull vs. Bear survey.
As of 5 a.m. EDT Monday, the poll finds survey-takers who were bullish on stocks tallying 290 votes, or 50.3%, of the 576 total votes cast. Bears came in with 193 votes, or 33.5%, while those neutral on stocks this week were at 93 votes, or 16.1%.
Poll participants expect the precious metals sector to lead gainers this week, while the commercial banks sector is forecast to lead decliners.
with the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
rising 0.2%. The
S&P 500
gained 0.04% and the
Nasdaq
finished flat.
Irish eyes, as well as the eyes of the rest of the globe, will be on Ireland as the
appealed to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package to support its capital-starved banks.
Investors also will be eyeing a boatload of economic data out of the U.S. including revised estimates for third-quarter gross domestic product, existing-home sales and weekly initial jobless claims.
The week may be short, but it will feature a number of heavy-hitters out with earnings reports including
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
on Monday,
Campbell Soup
(CPB) - Get Report
on Tuesday and
Tiffany
(TIF) - Get Report
and
Deere
(DE) - Get Report
on Wednesday.
Premarket futures were suggesting U.S. stocks would open higher on Monday.
Asian stocks ended mixed Monday, while European shares at 5 a.m. were rising after news of the Ireland bailout plan.
> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll
The poll closes at 9:15 a.m.
Here's a wrap-up of our other poll:
The solar index finished the week down roughly 7%, and all things considered, things could have been worse. Solar stocks received a little help on Friday from a rebound in the euro and less anxiety over the eurozone debt debacle -- at least less anxiety for a day -- and Chinese solar stocks in particular bounced back to end the week.
>>CSIQ Reputation: a Weakened Currency?
Investors, on the whole, though, are still skittish about the sector. The recent losses are still pretty steep for solar stocks, compounded by the bearish call this week by Credit Suisse on oversupply in 2011.
>>Solar Losers: Credit Suisse Call Sends Sector Slipping
Credit Suisse was far from the first to lay out the bear thesis for solar, and
TheStreet
has noted several times in recent weeks that profit-taking in solar stocks might be right around the corner.
>>Solar Stocks: Time to Take the Money and Run?
In fact, given the uncertainty among investors about the huge capacity increases being made by solar companies amid uncertain demand, last week
TheStreet
ran a poll asking investors if the best offense was a good defense when it came to solar stocks ahead of 2011. Specifically, the poll asked,
What's your favored strategy for solar stocks on a supply chain-specific basis?
For the purposes of the poll, solar was broken up into four segments: (1) module companies with project pipelines; (2) low-cost Chinese module makers; (3) the Chinese solar input players in wafers and cells; (4) the solar inverter companies.
The results of the poll were somewhat surprising, at least as far as contradicting the prevailing wisdom about solar going into 2011 and a potential oversupply situation.
Roughly 35% of investors said that their consensus "best offense is a good defense" solar play in 2011 is the Chinese solar input players in wafers and cells. With the peak point in the supply constraint in wafers and cells expected to gradually decline after the fourth quarter, and the Chinese solar input players still working to prove their quickly developing vertical integration models, it might have seemed more likely that the low-cost, most vertically integrated Chinese module makers would be a more popular choice for an uncertain year.
>>Click here for full results and analysis of our solar sector poll
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel and Ty Wenger in New York.
