S&P 500 marks longest bull run

The bull market in U.S. stocks is now the longest on record.

The current bull run on Wall Street became the longest in history on Wednesday at 3,453 days, beating the bull market of the 1990s that ended in the dot-com collapse in 2000.

That’s how long the benchmark S&P 500 index of major U.S. stocks has gone without a drop of 20 per cent or more, the traditional definition of a bear market.

Despite its long duration, this bull market actually wasn’t as big in terms of overall gains as the 1990s one.

The milestone arrived on a listless day of trading that left the S&P 500 with a slight loss. Gains by technology and energy firms outweighed losses in industrial stocks, banks and other sectors.

“This expansion is alive and well, this bull market is alive and well,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer for private clients at Glenmede. “Valuations are definitely higher than we tend to like to see them, but they’re actually not that atypical for the back part of an economic expansion.”

The S&P 500 index finished with a loss of 1.14 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 2,861.82.

The bull market for U.S. stocks began in March 2009 and has now lasted nine years, five months and 13 days, a record few would have predicted when the market struggled to find its footing after a 50-per-cent plunge during the financial crisis.

The long rally has added trillions of dollars to household wealth, helping the economy, and stands as a testament to the ability of large U.S. companies to squeeze out profits in tough times and confidence among investors as they shrugged off repeated crises and kept buying.

Despite its longevity, the bull market lags others on the cumulative gain it has generated for investors.

As of Tuesday, the S&P 500 had climbed 323 per cent over the current bull market. By comparison, the bull market that ran through much of the 1990s and ended in March 2000 led to a 417-percent gain for the S&P 500, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“While it’s long in time, it could still go on longer because, magnitude-wise, it’s just not that far (along),” Pride said.

Despite the milestone, investors mainly kept an eye on earnings reports and the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting of policymakers earlier this month.

The minutes revealed deepening concerns that escalating trade wars could hurt the economy. They also underscored expectations that the central bank is likely to increase its policy rate at its next meeting in September. Many economists believe another rate hike will follow in December.

Later this week, central bankers, including new Fed chief Jerome Powell, gather in Jackson Hole, Wyo., an annual symposium that has often generated market-moving news.