An optimistic minority of advisors have become super-bulls with calls for a significant market advance over the next year. John Markman at MSN Moneycentral.com notes that it is hard to imagine an extended period of strong returns in the market at this time:

As the market heaves and groans with dyspepsia this week, it’s hard to imagine the super-bulls could be right. But maybe we should be open-minded for a moment, and note that one expert’s guess may be as good as another these days. While it’s always tempting to side with the downers who moan about the negative effects of another Fortune 500 bankruptcy, higher interest rates, energy prices and inflation, we might just as well consider what might happen if the rebuilding of New Orleans, Biloxi and Islamabad let the good times roll again.

This piece is interesting in that it does challenge the convential wisdom that the markets are in for an extended period of middling returns. Food for thought.