Dow winning streak continues, if only barely

A 5-point gain is hardly worth mentioning, if not for the fact that it's another record high and the ninth straight day the Dow has closed on the plus side. The last time that happened was November 1996. The blue-chip index, which stands at 14,455, is way overdue for a pullback (markets can't go up forever), although the economic trend lines remain positive. That was certainly reflected in new projections from the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which projects U.S. growth to reach 3 percent in 2014 - not exactly buoyant by historic standards, but an indication of renewed strength. From press release:

In his March Forecast report, UCLA Anderson Forecast Senior Economist David Shulman asserts that following the nation's slowest postwar recovery from a recession on record, the national economy is beginning to "ramp up." While Shulman's forecast says that the economy will grow at 1.9% in 2013, 2.8% in 2014 and 3.1% in 2015, it's important to keep in mind that these rates of growth are still well below the typical 4%-6% rates of growth associated with prior recoveries. Along with higher rates of growth, the forecast calls for inflation in excess of 2% in 2014 and 2015, "as the Fed's extraordinary monetary policies catch up to a slow productivity growth economy."