when the economy hits a rough patch for instance in the face of recession or a spike in unemployment it can become difficult to sustain rising stock prices recessions are often accompanied by a negative turn in investor and consumer sentiment and market psychology that s more concerned with fear or reducing risk than greed or risk taking 
the bottom linea bull market is a trend in a financial market characterized by rising prices and investor optimism it can occur in the stock market as well as the bond real estate currency and commodity markets bull markets tend to last for extended periods of time and are marked by increased demand for securities rising corporate profits and gdp and declining unemployment the opposite of a bull market is a bear market which is characterized by falling prices and investor pessimism the terms bull and bear are believed to come from the way these animals attack their opponents 