Bull Starts 10th Year

Wall Street’s bull market turned 9 years old Monday, extending its run as the longest market advance of at least this century. The Dow Jones industrials had bottomed at 2,365.10 on Oct. 11, 1990, after tumbling 21% in the wake of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Since then, the Dow has surged 8,283.08 points, or 350%, through Monday’s close of 10,648.18. By most analysts’ reckoning, bull markets end when the Dow or the Standard & Poor’s 500 fall at least 20%. They haven’t done so since 1990--though they came close in late-summer 1998. By some broader market indexes, such as the Russell 2,000 small-stock index, the 1990s bull market ended last year. But the Dow and the S&P; are Wall Street’s main signposts.

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The Dow’s Run in the ‘90s

Monday: 10,648.18

Longest Bull Markets

Advances in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index not marked by interim declines of at least 20%:

Oct. 11, 1990 to present, 9 years.

1949 - 56: 7.2

1923 - 29: 5.8

1982 - 87: 5

1942 - 46: 4.1

1962 - 66: 3.6

1978 - 80: 2.8

How Key Indexes and Stocks Have Gained

Percentage gains in key market indexes and a sampling of major blue-chip stocks since Oct. 11, 1990:

CLOSING PRICE:

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10/11/90 Monday Change Nasdaq composite 325.61 2,915.95 +796% S&P; 500 295.46 1,355.21 +359 Dow industrials 2,365.10 10,648.18 +350 NYSE composite 162.20 613.33 +278 Russell 2,000 120.02 430.19 +258

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Stocks

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10/11/90 Monday Change Wal-Mart $6.34 $53.94 +751% Merck 12.55 75.13 +499 Alcoa 13.63 63.00 +362 IBM 25.25 114.25 +352 Walt Disney 7.55 25.25 +234

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Sources: Bridge Information Systems, Bloomberg News