Sunday, August 16, 2009

is it a sign?






Dare we look for a sign? Dare I give financial advice? Dare I think about anything financial since I work at a non-profit and write books on the side? What do I know about profit?

But finding this new leaf so late in the season on a sycamore growing along the Neyland Drive Greenway, led me to wonder if it was a sign that the economy has made a real and lasting turnaround. New growth.

Sycamores, or as they once were called, buttonwoods, have a curious tie to the American stock market. The origin of the bartering place can be traced back to May 17, 1792, when the so-called "Buttonwood Agreement" was signed by 24 stockbrokers at 68 Wall Street in New York City. The signing, handshakes and pats on the back took place outside (as all good things do) under a buttonwood tree growing on Wall Street at the time.

On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board," although seeing that I am a naturalist, I would have preferred the Buttonwood Board.

2 comments:

ADRIAN said...

Lets hope so but equally nature may be mimicking the financial markets.

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Well put. Linking nature to Wall Street is dangerous, nature would come out the loser every time.