Bears are going extinct in US stock market's $13 trillion rebound

Virtually every constituency in the market has gotten more bullish as the S&P 500 surged 52% in five months

Skeptics are a dying breed in American equities. It’s another illustration of how risky it has become to doubt the resilience of the market’s $13 trillion surge since late March.

Going by the short positions of hedge funds, resistance to rising prices is the lowest in 16 years. Bears pulled out as buying surged among professional investors who were forced back into stocks despite a recession, stagnating profits and the prospect of a messy presidential election.

While perhaps logical given open-ended Federal Reserve support, rampant covering depletes at least one source of support for shares -- buying by speculators who