[Lexicog] bull, bear markets

[Mike Maxwell]

The rest of this msg is quoted from
http://www.etymologie.info/~e/u_/us-geld__.html; no guarantees as to the
truth, but it sounds reasonable, particularly the part about Nast.  It looks
like the story is attributed to The Motley Fool (a columnist, I think), but
it's not clear.

    -Mike Maxwell

---------------------------------------------
One common myth is that the terms 'bull market' and 'bear market' are
derived from the way those animals attack a foe, because bears attack by
swiping their paws downward and bulls toss their horns upward. This may be a
useful way to remember which is which, but it is not the true origin of the
terms.

Long ago, 'bear skin jobbers' were infamous for selling bear skins that they
did not own; i.e., the bears had not yet been caught. This term eventually
was used to describe short sellers, speculators who sell shares that they do
not own, hoping to buy them after a price drop and then deliver the shares
to the owner. Obviously, these 'bears' were hoping the market would go down.

Because bull and bear baiting (die Bärenhetze) were once popular sports,
'bulls' came to be seen as the opposite of 'bears.' The bulls were those
people who bought in the expectation that a stock price would rise, not
fall.

Cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized the Bull and Bear as symbols for the
market's movement. But perhaps the final word on bulls and bears is the old
Wall Street advice: Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get eaten.

from The Motley Fool.com




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