-wall street lingo - Bears

The term bear refers to the given market conditions. Bull and bear are probably the most familiar terms onMain Street. Bear markets are rife with pessimism and negative sentiment. Typically, a bear market is one that has experienced declines of at least 15-20% and lasts more than two months. Probably the most famous bear markets occurred in 1929, which some believe caused the Great Depression.  Unfortunately, economic indicators in 2008 have drawn comparisons to the Great Depression of 1929. The severe housing and credit bubbles originating in the first decade of the new millennium in the United States burst abruptly in 2007, and this credit unwinding, or "deleveraging" had a negative ripple effect on economies and markets worldwide. Venerable institutions, such as Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers were wiped out by this bear market. Stock markets across the globe also experienced severe downturns. Governments engineered financial rescue packages for many large banks and insurance giants to avoid global financial markets meltdowns