Why is it called bull market?

Why is it called a bull market? The term bull originally meant a speculative purchase in the expectation that stock prices would rise; the term was later applied to the person making such purchases. This eighteenth-century animal imagery caught on, and bears and bulls have been in the stock market ever since.

What happens in a bull market?

Anyone betting the stocks they bought during the pandemic bull market would return enough to keep them ahead of inflation has reason to worry. Not only are spiraling prices clogging up the economy and raising recession risk, they’re debasing the value of what’s left of an investor’s equity gains.

What defines a bull market?

In general terms, a bull market can be described as a period of steadily increasing stock prices. It typically occurs when major stock indexes—like the S&P 500 -stock index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (or "the Dow ," which includes 30 of the largest U.S. stocks)—rise at least 20 percent and continue to grow.