What’s a bear market? An economist explains

   A 16th-century proverb advises: “It’s unwise to sell a bear’s skin before catching it.”

  That’s one of the stories used to explain why, in modern times, Wall Street types call someone who sells a stock expecting its price to drop a “bear.” It follows that a market in which securities or commodities are persistently declining in value is known as a “bear market,” like the one U.S. stocks are experiencing now.

A coronavirus recession may be coming: Here’s what to do with your money

  Global markets are crashing, the price of oil is plummeting, and even entire countries are in lockdown. The odds of a recession due to the new coronavirus outbreak are rising every day.

  A question I’m often asked as a finance professor and a CFA charterholder is what should people do with their money when the economy is slowing or in a recession, which typically causes riskier assets like stocks to decline. Fear causes many people to run for the hills.