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Dec. 24, 2009, 3:26 p.m. EST · Recommend (4) · Post:
By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch
A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled John Kolovos' name. It has been corrected.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The portion of investors who say they expect stocks to keep rising shows bullish sentiment has yet to reach 2007 highs, suggesting to some analysts the rally has more room to run.
The American Association of Individual Investors said Thursday its weekly online poll of individual investors found 38% of surveyed members reported they were bullish on the stock market over the next six months.
DOW INDUSTRIALS (DJIA)
That's up from 19% in early March but is lower than bullish readings of 51% reached in mid-August of this year, and is well off the readings of 58% reached in 2007, when that bull market was in full swing.
Other weekly investor sentiment surveys, such as those published by Investors Intelligence and Market Vane, tell a similar story: The bulls have come out of the gate, but are far from stampeding.
To analysts who look at these survey readings as contrarian indicators, the levels suggest stocks could keep rising.
The thinking goes like this: If roughly the same portion of investors turn optimistic as in past bull markets, plenty more should come off the sidelines to buy into this latest stock rebound. And all that new money will drive stock prices higher.
"In light of the terrific rally we've had, overall sentiment has certainly moved to the bullish side of the fence but is nowhere near the excessive levels that are normally associated with a market top," said Mark Arbeter, chief technical strategist at Standard & Poor's Equity Research.
"That, to me, should provide a bullish underpinning for stocks as we move into the early part of 2010," he said.
The major U.S. stock benchmarks ended Thursday's shortened trading day with a fifth straight session of gains, and at the highest closing levels of the year, lifted by a deeper-than-expected drop in initial jobless claims.
The S&P 500 ended the day with a 0.5% gain, at 1,126.48, and the trading week with a 2.18% advance. Tech, financials and materials stocks, including several metals producers, powered the daily advance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 10,520, +53.66, +0.51%) gained 0.5% for the day and 1.85% for the week, at 10,520.1.
The Nasdaq Composite /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,286, +16.05, +0.71%) gained 0.7% for the day and 3.35% for the week, to finish at 2,285.69.
U.S. stock markets closed early Thursday ahead of Friday's Christmas holiday, when trading will also be shuttered. See complete U.S. stocks coverage.
- EnronNation | 6:49 a.m. Dec. 25, 2009
Research In Motion clients in North and South America have vocalized their outrage in recent days over BlackBerry outages. And their anger has been heard.
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