Guaranteed Gains for 2010 no matter what according to this fine statistic right here.....
Also working in the bulls' favor is the fact that stocks have never fallen in the second year of a bull market going as far back as 1949, notes Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Equity Research. The average gain in year two of a bull is 15%, he says.
More bulls running wild.....
2010 AT A GLANCE
Strategists' S&P 500 targets for 2010:
Oppenheimer Asset Mgt
1300
16.7%
Bank of America's Merrill Lynch
1275
14.4%
Standard & Poor's
1215
9.1%
LPL Financial
1200
7.7%
RBC Capital Markets
1200
7.7%
Citigroup
1150
3.2%
Barclays Capital
1120
0.5%
Source: USA TODAY research
The key takeaway from an analysis of more than a half-dozen 2010 outlook reports is that the new year could mark the second leg of the bull market recovery.
Projected gains for the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index range from as much as 16.7% to as little as 0.5% from Monday's close.
The most optimistic projection comes from Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer. Belski, who has a 2010 year-end price target of 1300 for the S&P 500, says the widespread doubts about the continuation of the big rally off of the March bear market lows are misplaced.
"The widespread skepticism about the U.S. stock market and economy is based more on the unprecedented circumstances of (the) 2007-2009 (financial crisis) than on the outlook, which is poised to improve significantly," Belski said in his 2010 market outlook.
While Belski's call of double-digit gains pales compared with the 60%-plus gains since March 9, the direction remains up. He expects corporate earnings to grow 25% next year, thanks to recovering consumers and an economy posting better-than-expected growth.
The most cautious projection comes from Barry Knapp of Barclays Capital. Knapp, a U.S. portfolio strategist, is calling for a roughly 10% correction in the first half of 2010 and a subsequent recovery on the S&P 500 to 1120, or a 0.5% gain by year's end.
Knapp's less-robust thesis is based largely on his belief that the Federal Reserve will begin to reverse its easy â and cheap â monetary policy, a move that could act as a headwind for what has been a liquidity-driven stock rally.
"We think 2010 will follow a pattern quite similar to 2004, when stocks spent the first half of the year anticipating the end of the easiest monetary policy in decades," he wrote in his report, titled "2010 Outlook: The Fed giveth and the Fed taketh away."
By the time the Fed raises short-term interest rates, which are now at 0% to 0.25%, the market correction will largely be complete, Knapp predicts.
Low interest rates, of course, helped stimulate the moribund economy in 2009 by keeping mortgage rates and other borrowing costs low, as well as allowing banks to borrow money cheaply and lend it out or invest it at higher rates.
Also working in the bulls' favor is the fact that stocks have never fallen in the second year of a bull market going as far back as 1949, notes Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Equity Research. The average gain in year two of a bull is 15%, he says.