Bulls, Bears, and Hogs

So ever wonder what are these crazy people referring to when they say the market is bullish or bearish?

Well they're referring to market conditions in the securities markets. Depending on market conditions, namely government actions done to stimulate or hinder the economic growth, changes in economic activity such as companies giving quarterly reports showing the strength or weakness in the economy, and investor attitudes; there's also some other various reports and conditions which can have an effect, such as Consumer Price index (which helps show inflation), energy and material costs (such as oils and natural resources), as well as the Confidence index (published by Barron's analyzing the bond Yield Spread).

Now all of this may be a little complicated so lets simplify it:
Bull = Market Goes Up
Bear = Market Goes Down

Now in the title I also mentioned Hogs, now what exactly is a hog in the market you ask?
They're greedy Bulls and Bears, while bulls and bears can make money playing the ups and downs of the market, hogs think that the market will always move one way and not take a profit or cut their loss when they should. Hogs get Slaughtered.