The new year always brings forth a multitude of prognosticators on every sector of the market and, typically, there is no shortage of market bears, citing recent job growth, impending Fed rate hikes, or any number of economic indicators.

This January it’s no different, and the housing bubble, the credit crunch and the weak dollar join the usual suspects of Fed rates and weak corporate profits.

I don’t expect the big market crash to come this year, though. While housing and mortgage related stocks should pull back over the coming quarters,
I expect an average- to above-average year for banks and the energy sector.

Worldwide markets are the key here, and everyone needs the financiers and the energy to plow through the year, not just the US.

That said, I’m not afraid of the S&P, though I don’t expect it to match the 13% it brought home in 2006.

The bottom line is, stay the course. The naysayers are always out this time of year, when the first quarterly profits are about to be announced and everyone is questioning why last year’s prognosis was so far off.