We're going to tell you this one has to do with sheep and you're going to think we're kidding. But this time we're actually serious.
The term "bellwether" is used in finance to describe a stock or company that can be seen as a representation of the industry as a whole. So Apple might be described as a "tech bellwether" and Amazon might be a "retail bellwether."
Whatever happens to those individuals can be taken as a sign as to what will happen in the industry as a whole. So if Apple reports bad earnings, the stocks of other tech companies might fall in response, as traders assume that disappointing results at the "tech bellwether" suggests that the tech industry in general has reached a rough patch.
You ask: "what does this have to do with sheep? You promised us something to do with sheep?"
We're getting to it.
The term "bellwether" comes from a sheep that leads a flock. A "wether" is a castrated ram. And "bell" comes from an actual bell that shepherds would put on the wether leading the flock. You know, so you can hear it when it walks around. Or moans and groans about being castrated.
So when someone in the financial press refers to Apple as a "tech bellwether," you can smirk and think about the company as a castrated ram with a clanging bell hanging from its neck.
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Finance: What is the Russell Index?4 Views
What is the Russell Index? Well it's an index like a stock
index abroad one the Russell is actually a series of
various indices that track the progress or lack thereof of stocks in a given
sector or basket like many indices the Russell index is actually owned and/or
managed by the footsie or f TSI based in London that's the financial time stock [sky scraper in London]
index F TSI footsie and the indices come in all kinds of flavors with an example [ice cream counter]
right here where you can see funds with catchy titles like the Russell 3000
growth and the Russell 1000 value and the Russell mid cap yeah the Russell
micro cap and the anemic Russell top 200 it's only 200 companies there and that
top 200 yeah no relation to top gear the video Yelp of cars alright well why do [Top Gear website with Nissan Leaf charging]
we need yet another set of indices well we already have the Vanguard series
featuring the famous ticker s py or S&P 500 we have the Wilshire 5000 which
isn't really 5000 and we have a bunch of others each of which give market
insights from slightly different lenses like that and that and yeah that well [microscope, magnifying glass]
the answer because investors are willing to pay for those insights and/or invest [money passing hands]
in those index funds and will likely keep doing so until there's no more [money piling up]
money to be made at which point everything gets renamed to being an out
Dex
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