In investing, financial markets are commonly believed to have market trends that can be classified as primary trends, secondary trends (short-term), and secular trends (long-term). This belief is generally consistent with the non-scientific practice of technical analysis and broadly inconsistent with the standard academic view of financial markets, the efficient market hypothesis. The belief in trends incorporates the idea that market cycles occur with regularity and persistence.

The assumption that market prices move in trends is one of the major components of technical analysis, and consideration of market trends is common to many Wall Street investors. Market trends are described as sustained movements in market prices over a period of time. The terms bull market and bear market describe upward and downward movements respectively and can be used to describe either the market as a whole or specific sectors and securities (stocks). The expressions "bullish" and "bearish" can also mean optimistic and pessimistic respectively ("bullish on gold," or "bearish on technology stocks", etc).

Primary market trends

A primary trend has broad support throughout the entire market or market sector and lasts for a year or more.

From Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License
Fri Jun 12 08:16:57 2009

See also:

  • Bank of America Market ResearchBank of America Market Research
    corp.bankofamerica.com
    Economic data, analysis and commentary on macro-economy, industries and regions from Bank of America analysts.
  • Turning Points OnlineTurning Points Online
    turningpointsonline.com
    Subscription based, monthly publication on the state of the U.S. economy. Aimed for business and investment professionals.
  • Ethical PerformanceEthical Performance
    ethicalperformance.com
    Monthly newsletter for professionals concerned with corporate social responsibility or for investors.
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Tue Jun 9 21:54:42 2009