by Spixxy on July 28th, 2004

Spixxy

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How did the bull and bear come to be symbols of the stock market?

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  • by Bibliophile_kg on July 29th, 2004

    Bibliophile_kg

    I located the answer at http://www.invest-faq.com

    Evidently,"bear skin jobbers" were known for selling bear skins that they did not own; i.e., the bears had not yet been caught. This was the original source of the term "bear." This term eventually was used to describe short sellers, speculators who sold shares that they did not own, bought after a price drop, and then delivered the shares.

    The term "bull" came from the the sports of baiting both bears and bulls. Bulls were seen as being the opposite of bears. Thus, the bear describes the opposite stock market climate. People buy stocks in the expectation that stocks will rise, not fall.

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