bull market

Bull Market

A financial market of a certain group of securities in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. The term "bull market" is most often used in respect to the stock market, but really can be applied to anything that is traded, such as bonds, currencies, commodities, etc.

Bull markets are characterized by optimism, investor confidence and expectations that strong results will continue. Of course, no bull market can last forever, and sooner or later a bear market (in which prices fall) will come. It's tough if not impossible to predict consistently when the trends in the market will change. Part of the difficulty is that psychological effects and speculation can sometimes play a large (if not dominant) role in the markets. The extreme on the high end is a stock-market bubble, and on the low end a crash.

Notes:

The use of "bull" and "bear" to describe markets comes from the way in which each animal attacks its opponents. That is, a bull thrusts its horns up into the air, and a bear swipes its paws down. These actions are metaphors for the movement of a market: if the trend is up, it is considered a bull market. And if the trend is down, it is considered a bear market.

See also: Bear, Bear Market, Bubble, Bull, Crash, Overbought

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Bull market

Any market in which prices are in an upward trend.

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bull market

An extended period of generally rising prices in an individual item, such as stock or gold; a group of items, such as commodities or oil stocks; or the market as a whole. Because security prices are often subject to reversals, it is sometimes difficult to know whether there has been a temporary interruption in or a permanent end to a bull market. Thus, the opinion of whether a bull market is actually in progress is often subject to individual interpretation. Compare bear market.