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It's articles like this from The Age that have me concerned. Be fearful when others are greedy etc:

Running with the market RICHARD WEBB

January 17, 2010

Shares have soared 55 per cent since March, but experts say there's loads more to come.

THE resource giants, mining and engineering services companies, retailers, financials and internet-related stocks are some of the places to be to take advantage of what is expected to be a solid year on the sharemarket, stock experts say.

But go easy on telecommunication companies such as Telstra and property trusts, for now at least.

With stock watchers predicting another good year for local shares - most tipping an overall market gain of about 15 per cent for 2010 - many mum and dad investors are wondering where to invest to take advantage of the expected continuing bull run. The simple answer is: pretty much where you should have made your investments last year, too!

Broad consensus is that the major resource companies of BHP and Rio are on a roll, with the Chinese economy expected to power ahead at a 10 per cent growth rate in 2010 despite the monetary tightening in China that began last week. Commodity prices will continue to head higher because of Chinese demand, and BHP and Rio are also expected to secure big gains in the imminent coal and iron ore contract price talks with the Japanese steel mills.

Macquarie Equities associate director Lucinda Chan says the outlook is positive for offshore economies so companies such as BHP and Rio with big overseas exposure are poised to do particularly well.

"It's our view that Australia is travelling well and that we will get about 15 to 20 per cent out of the Australian sharemarket," she says. "But at Macquarie we believe that overseas markets will do better and we will get 20 to 25 per cent as overseas economies improve."

Ms Chan says Woodside is another to look at with the oil price continuing to climb. She also likes engineering companies that service the resource majors such as Transfield Services and Boart Longyear.

Peter Russell, head of research at Intersuisse, adds WorleyParsons to that list, while Michael Heffernan, at Austock senior adviser, also likes Leighton and United Group as well as smaller operators Neptune Marine and Mermaid Marine.

Mr Russell says the sharemarket has now clawed back about half the points it dropped from its all-time closing high of about 6828 in November 2007 to its March 2009 low of 3145, and some investors are becoming cautious because of it.

"It's becoming a glass half-full, glass half-empty situation," he says. "But when you look at the outlook for Australia and China, we are encouraging clients to take a positive view. We are saying let's be 100 per cent invested and go for it."

Mr Russell likes some of the employment and office services companies, too - such as online job advertising group SEEK and global serviced office provider Servcorp (given the strength of the Australian dollar and historically cheap office rental rates in many major European and US cities).

Austock's Mr Heffernan believes there is plenty of upside in the retail and banking sectors, too (even though the banks are much closer to their all-time highs already), and he likes industrial stocks such as GUD, which is benefiting from a strong dollar in the offshore sourcing of the products it sells locally under brand names such as Sunbeam.

"What I don't like at the moment are the telecoms, which is essentially Telstra, and the property trusts. Telstra continues to disappoint and the property trusts have big debt constraining them."

But overall Mr Heffernan is positive for shares. "It's the economy that always underpins the sharemarket and we are expecting to see economic growth triple in Australia this year, from 1 per cent to 3 per cent," he says. " Earnings are going to be the real driver of the market and I think they're going to be really good."