NEW YORK —
The bulls weren’t bullish enough.
The stock market just had its best first quarter in 14 years. The surge has sent Wall Street analysts, some of whose forecasts seemed too sunny three months ago, scrambling to raise their estimates for the year.
“That it’s up isn’t surprising. It’s the magnitude,” said Robert Doll, the chief equity investment manager at BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager.
Doll said stocks could rise 10 percent more before the end of the year. That would be enough to push the Dow Jones industrial average to an all-time high and the Standard & Poor’s 500 close to a record.
For the first three months of the year, the Dow was up 8 percent and the S&P 12 percent, in each case the best start since the great bull market of the 1990s. The Nasdaq composite index, made up of technology stocks, has had an even more remarkable run — up 19 percent for the year, its best start since 1991.
The quarter ended on a positive note Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 66.22 points to close at 13,212.04. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.19 points to close at 1,408.47. The Nasdaq composite barely moved, falling 3.79 points to close at 3,091.57.
“I don’t think anyone could have predicted this,” said Chip Cobb, a senior vice president at Bryn Mawr Trust Asset Management. For these gains, he said, “I thought it would take all year.”
