Wall Street is the name of a street in lower Manhattan running east from Broadway downhill to the East River. As for why the street is called Wall Street, in the 17th century the wall formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement erected for defensive purposes. Now the term encompasses all business directly related to stock exchanges and the financial market.
The history of the New York Stock Exchange External Link begins with the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement by twenty-four New York City stockbrokers and merchants on May 17, 1792, outside at 68 Wall Street under a Buttonwood tree. In the beginning there were five securities traded in New York City with the first listed company on the NYSE being the Bank of New York.
The 24 brokers who signed the agreement, thus becoming the first NYSE members were:
Leonard Bleecker Hugh Smith
Armstrong & Barnewall Samuel March
Bernard Hart Alexander Zuntz
Andrew D. Barclay Sutton & Hardy
Benjamin Seixas John Henry
John A. Hardenbrook Samuel Beebe
Benjamin Winthrop John Ferrers
Ephraim Hart Isaac M. Gomez
Gulian McEvers Augustine H. Lawrence
G. N. Bleecker John Bush
Peter Anspach Charles McEvers, Jr.
David Reedy Robinson & Hartshorne
The origin/meaning of the Bull and Bear Market expression
The Bull Market
A bull market is defined as “a market in which share prices are rising, encouraging buying.” In other words, a bull market symbolizes prosperity. From a historical and astronomical perspective, this makes perfect sense, because the bull as a symbol of the constellation of Taurus, has long been a representative of growth and strength associated with the Sun.
“A religious reverence for the zodiacal Bull [TAURUS] appears, from a very early period, to have been pretty general, perhaps it was universal, throughout Asia; from that chain or region of Caucasus to which it gave name; and which is still known under the appellation of Mount Taurus, to the Southern extremities of the Indian Peninsula; extending itself also into Europe, and through the Eastern parts of Africa.
This evidently originated during those remote ages of the world, when the colure of the vernal equinox passed across the stars in the head of the sign Taurus [among which was Aldebarבn]; a period when, as the most ancient monuments of all the oriental nations attest, the light of arts and letters first shone forth.
The Arabian word AL-DE-BARֱN, means the foremost, or leading, star: and it could only have been so named, when it did precede, or lead, all others. The year then opened with the sun in Taurus; and the multitude of ancient sculptures, both in Assyria and Egypt, wherein the bull appears with lunette or crescent horns, and the disk of the sun between them, are direct allusions to the important festival of the first new moon of the year: and there was everywhere an annual celebration of the festival of the first new moon, when the year opened with Sol and Luna in Taurus.” — Pike, Albert., Morales & Dogma, p. 451-452
The Bear Market
A bear market is defined as “a market in which prices are falling, encouraging selling.” A bear market, therefore, symbolizes a lack of prosperity. This also makes sense from a historical and astronomical perspective.
To the Micmac Indians in southeast Canada, a ‘Celestial Bear’ is our Big Dipper pattern, which coming down to our horizon signaled the beginning of hibernation season. It thus symbolizes the approaching winter and lack of growth and prosperity, which is in contrast to the symbology of Taurus the bull, which marked the growth of vegetation, renewal of life, and the approaching summer.
The superficial explanation
The superficial explanation is that bears hibernate and that bulls are aggressive. However, that perfectly matches what’s being said here, as bears hibernate during the winter and bulls are most aggressive during the mating season of summer.