Bull trots on: Stocks grind higher for 9th straight quarter

FILE - In this March 24, 2015 file photo, NYSE floor Governor Nicholas Brigandi, center, works with traders on the New York Stock Exchange floor. Plunging oil prices, a surging dollar and worries about the timing of a rate hike haven't been enough to keep the market from rising for a ninth straight quarter from January through March _ only the fourth time it’s done that since World War II. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) FILE - In this March 24, 2015 file photo, NYSE floor Governor Nicholas Brigandi, center, works with traders on the New York Stock Exchange floor. Plunging oil prices, a surging dollar and worries about the timing of a rate hike haven't been enough to keep the market from rising for a ninth straight quarter from January through March _ only the fourth time it’s done that since World War II. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

By Associated Press March 31, 2015 5 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – The bull market slowed to a trot but didn’t stop this winter.

Stocks have been buffeted since the start of the year by plunging oil prices, a surging dollar and worries about the timing of a potential rate increase by the Federal Reserve. None of that has been enough to keep the market from logging a small gain in the first three months of the year.

It is the ninth straight quarter that the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has risen. The index has only had three other stretches that long since World War II.

That’s good news for bulls because the previous three times the market notched a nine-quarter winning streak, the S&P 500 index averaged an increase of 8.1 percent in the 10th quarter.

During the latest quarter, the index climbed 0.4 percent. The gain follows an 11 percent jump in 2014 and a 30 percent surge in 2013.