Business Notes Stocks

At the relatively advanced age of four years, the bull market continues to show signs of youthful vigor. Last week the Dow Jones industrial average passed the 1900 mark for the first time in history and stayed just enough above it to close the week at 1900.87, up 15.61 for the four trading days. The Dow is now more than 350 points higher than it was at the start of the year. Main reason for recent gains: investors foresee further declines in interest rates. Robert Farrell, chief market analyst at Merrill Lynch, expects that stocks will suffer a temporary setback in the coming months, but he says that the Dow may hit 2500 before the birth of the next bear market.