S&P 500 marks longest bull run on record

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 percent 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 companies 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 percent, at 2,861.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 88.69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,733.60. The Nasdaq composite gained 29.92 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,889.10.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 4.50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,722.54. The Russell marked its second straight all-time high.

Gainers finished with a slight edge on decliners on the New York Stock Exchange.

The bull market for U.S. stocks be- gan in March 2009 and has now lasted nine years, five months and 13 days, a record that few would have predicted when the market struggled to find its footing after a 50 percent 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 slumps and kept buying.

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

As of Tuesday, the S&P 500 had climbed 323 percent 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.