Barron's Recap: Bulls Run Rampant

This weekend in Barron's online: results of Barron's Big Money survey and the prospects for gold mining stocks, Chiquita Brands and CommonWealth REIT.

"

" by Jack Willoughby. The latest Barron's Big Money poll shows record levels of bullishness among money managers in the United States. This is despite concerns about the fiscal gridlock in the United States, the debt crisis in Europe, money-printing worldwide and a still-sluggish global economy. The latest semiannual survey indicates that nearly three-quarters of money managers identified themselves as bullish or very bullish about the prospects for U.S. stocks. And about a third of them expect the Dow Jones industrials to reach 16,000 by the middle of next year. A quarter of respondents think the rally will not stop at 16,000. The S&P 500 is expected to follow a similar path, reaching 1,682 by June 2014. Also, the consensus is that the Nasdaq could hit 3,573 in the same time frame. See the article to find out which sectors are expected to be the best and worst performing, which stocks are overvalued, and what the sentiment of respondents was about the likes of

,

,

and

. Furthermore, responding money managers shared their thoughts on which asset classes they are most bullish and bearish on, which foreign markets they are most bullish and bearish on, and what would be most likely to send U.S. stocks sharply higher.

In Andrew Bary's "A Vein of Hope for Gold Miners" the suggestion is that the miners, probably the most hated stocks in the market, may now be getting their acts together. Why

and

could rise 40 percent. "At Last, Something Better Than Junk" by Jack Hough says that high-yield bonds are not the only way to achieve decent income these days. The stocks of "business-development companies" can provide better yields with lower risks. David Englander's "Chiquita Brands Has Appeal" predicts that shares of banana giant

could rise at least 20 percent as the company refocuses on its core businesses of bananas and packaged salads. An activists' challenge over

is the focus of "All in the Family" by Vito J. Racanelli. Real estate investors Barry Portnoy and son Adam run the REIT, but if the activists have their way, shareholders could see a rise in the stock of 30 percent or more. In "A Different Approach to Income," Ben Levisohn profiles Jesper Madsen, lead manager of the Matthews China Dividend fund. The fund's focus on dividend-paying smaller companies has paid off handsomely, says the article. "Cautious Short-Term, Bullish for the Longer Haul" by Lawrence C. Strauss features an interview with Scott Minerd, the chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners. Minerd predicts a 10 percent drop in the stock market, followed by up to 15 years of prosperity in the United States. Dyan Machan's "The French Enlightenment" turns the CEO spotlight on François-Henri Pinault of French luxury firm PPR, which has a lucrative stable of luxury, sport and lifestyle brands. See how Pinault is taking the company in new, more caring directions. "A Revolting Development" is an editorial commentary by Thomas G. Donlan in which he suggests that Americans are losing their respect for the tax system.

Columns in this weekend's

discuss:

This weekend's

online exclusives include: "Make a Killing on Stephen King" by Ed Lin. This Penta article suggests that limited-edition books by big-name authors quickly can double or triple in value. Buyers paid some $130,000 to place preorders for a limited edition of Stephen King's new book "Doctor Sleep." A 25th anniversary special limited edition of King's "It" has seen a 60 percent gain since it was published in December 2011. For investors willing to wade into this market, the article offers some rough guidelines to follow.