The nine-month journey of Dow, which included a brief detour below 7,000 during October, was long and hard at least by recent standards. But dire predictions of the bull market's impending collapse just five months ago could not choke investor appetite for stocks.

Monday's first-time close above 9,000 by the dow represents a stellar 14.2 per cent gain for this year, a bigger climb than even the most optimistic forecasts for all of 1998.

The push that tipped the Dow over the 9,000 milestone was fitting. Investors have kept the bull market running by putting their savings into mutual funds. On Monday, Citicorp and Travelersgroup, returned the favor, announcing a merger made possible by their rising stock values and that sent financial stocks surging further ahead.

Without the rise in financial stocks, the Dow would have missed the historic marker and lost ground for the day. ``It's just a big bull run because there's so much money around,'' said Eugene Mintz, financial markets analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman and Co. ``Certainly the merger of Citicorp and Travelers is an outgrowth of the bull market,'' the analyst added.

The Dow rose 49.82 points to 9,033.23 on Monday, gaining an unprecedented 1,124.98 points in just over three months after starting the year at 7,908.25.

Despite rise in the Dow, declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume on the floor of the big board came to 629.10 million shares, down from 649.11 million in the previous session.

Some Wall Street experts have raised their Dow targets to 10,000 and beyond, but many are standing by their forecasts.