The Incredible Rising Dow

NEW YORK CITY: The bubble that was supposed to burst three months ago keeps on rising. Monday, for the first time ever, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 6,000. Despite increasing prognistications from financial advisors that stocks are overvalued and headed for a fall, the Dow continues to grow, closing Monday up 40.62 at 6,010.00. The new record came less than a year after the Dow passed the 5,000 mark. Predictions this spring were that the current bull market, at the time more than 5 1/2 years old, was due for a fall. Those fears seemed close to realization by July 16, when the Dow had tumbled as low as 5,182.31, off 10 percent from its May peak. But the Federal Reserve's decision to hold the line on interest rates reassured investors in September, bringing the current rise toward 6,000. Meanwhile, investment fever continues to rise as fast as the market. According to the Federal Reserve, last year for the first time in decades the value of household stockholdings outweighed home equity. More than one adult in three now owns stock directly, through a mutual fund or through a savings plan such as a 401(k). And the trend is continuing: through September, Americans put more than $177 million into stock mutual funds, more than twice last year's rate. How high can the Dow go? Ed Yardeni, chief economist at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell who says "The economic fundamentals have never been more bullish," predicts a 10,000 Dow index by the year 2000. That would probably require 10 straight years of the bull market -->