A quiet start to 2019 could signal the bull market is still alive

SANTA Claus came late to Wall Street but still managed to pull back the major indexes from the brink of a bear market.

Is last week's rally a temporary or a lasting reprieve for the bull market in stocks that began almost a decade ago?

On the day after Christmas Day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1,000 points for the first time ever. The next day, the blue-chip index recorded another historic session, staging one of the biggest comebacks on record as it closed 260 points higher despite being down by more than 600, 90 minutes before the closing bell.

In the end, the Dow rose by more than 3 per cent on the week, notwithstanding suffering its biggest-ever Christmas Eve decline.

"Reporting for duty on the last trading session of 2018, I must say 'better late than never' as the stock market had a better comeback than Lazarus and let's keep the Santa Claus rally moving," said Dan Flynn, senior market analyst with the Price Futures Group, in a note to client…