bear market
Bear market (noun) means a period in which the prices of shares or other investments fall substantially and stay down, commonly counted from the point where prices have dropped about twenty per cent below a recent peak. Example: “The index slipped into a bear market after four months of steady losses.”
How to use bear market
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA long stretch where investments are worth noticeably less than they were.
Standard journalistic and financial usage in all registers. Its opposite, bull market, is used just as freely.
Remember the pair by the direction the animal moves: a bear swipes down, a bull tosses its horns up.
Trace the full origin ↓Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
The index slipped into a _____ after four months of steady losses.
Etymology
From bear, long used in English stock-market slang for someone selling in expectation of falling prices, plus market.
Synonyms
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Related words
Rhymes for bear market
See all rhymes for bear market →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a bear market and a correction?
Both describe falling prices, and the usual dividing line is depth. A drop of roughly ten per cent from a recent high is generally called a correction; once the fall reaches about twenty per cent, commentators start calling it a bear market. The figures are conventions used by the financial press, not official definitions.
Why is a falling market called a bear?
Bear was already stock-exchange slang in English for a trader betting on prices going down long before bull became its standard opposite. Popular explanations involving bears swiping downwards with their paws are memorable, but they are folk explanations rather than documented history.
Does a bear market mean a recession?
No. A bear market is about the price of investments; a recession is about the wider economy shrinking. The two often overlap and share causes, but share prices can fall sharply while the economy keeps growing, and the reverse can happen too.
What is the meaning of bear market?
"bear market" (noun) means a period in which the prices of shares or other investments fall substantially and stay down, commonly counted from the point where prices have dropped about twenty per cent below a recent peak.