Charles Schwab Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders says she’s optimistic on both the economy and stock market heading into 2011.

Sonders tells WNYC News that she thinks people will be “pleasantly surprised” by the rate of U.S. gross domestic product growth in the coming year. She says she expects a significant pickup in job creation, though she thinks structural issues will keep the unemployment rate relatively high for some time.

Sonders says those structural problems include both education and the housing market. She also says state and local government financial problems are an issue, but she thinks the improving economy will offset some of those problems. And, she says she expects investors to continue the recent trend of shifting money from fixed-income investments to equities in 2011.