Investor optimism for 2011 lifted sharemarkets yesterday, particularly in the United States where the Standard and Poor's 500 index looked to be heading for its best December in nearly 20 years.
The S&P has gained 6.8% so far this month and rose in 17 of the past 20 sessions.
But with volume among the lowest of the year, because of the holidays, and economic news scarce, some investors are waiting for January to see if the rising pattern holds.
The S&P, which has already passed the level it was on September 12, 2008, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, is on course for its biggest December gain since 1991, when it rose 11.2%.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said United States corporates were starting to believe much of the pain was behind them.
There were encouraging signs, with the US economy showing some signs of growth.
The corporate sector was looking more buoyant, after much hard work, and there was more activity around merger and acquisitions both overseas and in the Australian, Asian and New Zealand markets.
''We are in a much better position than we were at this time last year,'' he said.
In the US, several large consumer-linked companies saw their shares post solid gains this week, with McDonald's Corp up 1.1% and Walt Disney Co up nearly 1%.
Both companies are Dow components.
Markets were hoping consumption levels were returning and that would help fuel the economy and increase earnings so that companies would start hiring, Mr McIntyre said.
Although there were still problems in Europe, this part of the world was starting to look much more positive.
''With a second round of quantitative easing - QE2 - holding interest rates down, growth continuing in Asia and our key trading partner, Australia, benefiting from a 70% increase in its terms of trade, 2011 may hold better returns for investors.''
Equity markets might make further gains thanks to buying from investors looking for inflation protection and dividend income, he said.
There were three key issues for investors to consider next year: Asian growth; the European debt crisis; and the Federal Reserve's programme of quantitative easing.
China clearly had become a vital market for Australia and New Zealand, Mr McIntyre said.
''While we see short-term risks around whether China can successfully tackle inflation without pulling economic growth down too far, we agree with the view that New Zealand and Australia are well placed to benefit from Asian growth over the longer term.''
It was clear the deleveraging process in Europe was going to take many years to resolve and would involve painful austerity measures like those the United Kingdom was now implementing, as well as unpopular reform, he said.
In the meantime, the Asian and other emerging market economies would become a more important force in the global economy.
''We believe the debt crisis in Ireland will be contained. Germany and the other core EU countries have enjoyed a period of relatively strong export-led growth thanks to the weak euro.
''For all its dramatic impact on interest rates and market volatility, the latest bout of extreme tension on Ireland and Portugal could never really represent a systemic risk for the European Monetary Union, which now has in full operational order the crisis resolution tools put in place in May 2010.''
The Federal Reserve had much work to do in the coming year.
It had already cut interest rates to zero, but unemployment was still at 9.6% and inflation was at 1.1%.
That was why it was turning to such drastic measures as quantitative easing, or ''printing money'', to try to kick-start the US economy, Mr McIntyre said.
With the US economy recovering only very slowly, quantitative easing could continue all of next year.
That meant interest rates might stay low for 12 months and that could support equity markets through increased buying demand as investors looked to shares for income and inflation protection, he said.
