U.S. stocks were little changed Monday, but the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite indexes were on track to close a sixth consecutive quarter of gains—a streak not equaled in more than 14 years.
Following the S&P 500’s 30 percent gain last year, many investors had expected a halt to large stock gains now in their fifth year. The index has seen 22 record closing highs so far this year. Many analysts expect the S&P 500 to hit 2,000 for the first time sometime this year. That level would mark a gain of about 8.2 percent from 2013
Barring a market decline in the last hour of trade Monday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq will close higher for the sixth straight quarter. It would be the longest streak of quarterly advances for the Nasdaq since 2000, and for the S&P 500 since 1998. The Dow Jones industrial average is set for its fifth positive quarter of the last six.