Bulls and bears

In my previous entry I mentioned Wall Street. As a text that we translate with my students says, "Stock market speculators fall into two groups. One group, commonly known as bulls, hopes to profit by correctly predicting an increase in the value of a stock. The other group, bears, hopes to profit by correctly predicting a decrease in the value of a stock. Bulls are said to "buy long." That is, they buy stocks intending to hold them until they can be sold at a higher price.

"Bears "sell short." Expecting the price of a stock to fall, bears borrow the stock from their brokers and sell it at today's price. If and when the price does fall, they repurchase the stock at the lower price, return it to their brokers, and pocket the differ­ence. The broker is paid a fee for these services.

"The exact origin of the terms "bull" and "bear" is not known. However, you can re­member what kind of market they refer to because bull's horns point up and a bear lumbers along looking down at the ground."

There is a sculpture of a bull on Wall Street. Those tourists who know at least something about blue chips, stock exchanges and such, touch its horns. Those who think little of business and much of life after a working day ends, touch the opposite part(s) of its body. Which part of the bull would you touch?!