On Friday, the achieved something it hadn't managed in nearly 14 years: It closed at a record after adjusting for inflation.

Since March, the Dow has been hitting new records in nominal terms, meaning they didn't take into account the consumer price increases that had inflated the value of stocks since the last record. As of Friday, the Dow is at new high even after those price increases are removed.

That isn't just an arcane detail. It means that, in real buying power, the most-watched stock-market measure has finally regained the ground it lost during the sometimes-terrifying events of the past 14 years. The Dow has recovered from the Internet bubble, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Enron scandal, the housing bubble and the global financial crisis.

In that sense, the stock market's "lost decade," which in fact lasted longer than a decade, is finally ending.

"This is a rare event historically. I think of it as a positive sign," said William Hausman, an economics professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who follows inflation-adjusted stock prices.