“The stock market is a barometer of business”

It’s often said that “the stock market is a barometer of business.” “The stock market is the true barometer” was cited in 1851. “The stock market is a barometer by which the condition of general business can be measured” was cited in 1901. The book The Stock Market Barometer (1922) by William Peter Hamilton helped make this a very common saying in the 1920s.
 
“The stock market is a barometer and not a thermometer. It records what is to occur and not what is happening or what took place in the past” was cited in 1918.
 
 
Chronicling America
21 February 1851, The Daily Crescent (New Orleans, LA), pg. 1, col. 4:
THE STOCK MARKET IS THE TRUE BAROMETER.
 
6 April 1901, The Evening Journal (Jersey City, NJ), “The Great Boom in Business,” pg. 8, col. 1:
The stock market is a barometer by which the condition of general business can be measured.
 
27 August 1911, New York (NY) Times, “Guesses About Trade,” pg. 12, col. 3:
The stock market is a barometer of general business, but does not measure the trends.
 
Chronicling America
19 September 1911, Topeka (KS) State Journal, “There’s a Silver Lining,” pg. 4, col. 2:
But no longer are the operations in the stock market a certain barometer of the business and financial conditions throughout the country.
     
Google Books
15 March 1918, The Financier (New York, NY), pg. 526:
The stock market is a barometer and not a thermometer. It records what is to occur and not what is happening or what took place in the past.
 
22 May 1919, Springfield (MA) Weekly Republican, “Stock Brokers Are Optimistic,” pg. 13, col. 2:
If ever the trite observation that “the stock market is a barometer, not a thermometer,” was true, it is to-day. It has undoubtedly forecasted the future wih uncanny prescience correctly for the past two months, but now the evidences of its unerring judgment appear to be visible. For two months the market has measured the trend of future business conditions; it has not registered the temperature of the present business conditions.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The stock market barometer : a study of its forecast value based on Charles H. Dow’s theory of the price movement : with an analysis of the market and its history since 1897
Author: William Peter Hamilton
Publisher: New York ; London : Harper & Bros., ©1922.
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
 
Chronicling America
2 January 1922, The Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, OK), pg. 6, col. 2:
Stock Market Regarded
As Industrial Barometer
Predictions for a bright year during 1922 are again brought into prominence by W. B. McCormick, of Chicago, who is here on a business visit. Mr McCormick regards the stock market as a barometer which will prophecy future conditions and states that it has been showing marked improvement during the past 30 days, resultant of which commercial conditions throughout the country should progress.
 
Google Books
The Stock Market
By Charles Amos Dice
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Co.
1926
Pg. 498:
The Dow theory holds that the stock market is a barometer of business.
 
Google Books
How to Play the Stock Market
By Louis W. Lowe
Providence, RI: C. De Witt White Co.
1929
Pg. 33:
The stock market is a barometer of industrial and business conditions.
 
15 November 1959, Sacramento (CA) Bee, “Wall Street Perspective” by Elmer C. Walzer, pg. A15, col. 2:
Barometer of Business
Also it must be remembered that the stock market is a barometer of business and not a thermometer.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Stock Market: No More a Barometer
Author: Nishtar
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: Economic and Political Weekly, v6 n2 (19710109): 77
Database: JSTOR Arts & Sciences VI Collection
     
Google Books
Go Where the Money Is:
A Guide to Understanding and Entering the Securities Business
By Lawrence R. Rosen
Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwi
1974.
Pg. 89:
It holds that the stock market is a barometer of business.
 
16 January 1974, The Centre Daily Times (State College, PA), “Americans Think In Dollar Signs” by John Cunniff (AP), pg. 20, col. 5:
The explanation provided, almost always, is that the stock market is a barometer, not a thermometer. It anticipates conditions the day after tomorrow but it doesn’t register the weather at the moment.
 
27 August 1978, San Diego (CA) Union, “Bulls and Bears” by Helen L. Call, pg. A-33, col. 1:
Some folks are optimistic about the stock market. But is it a mirror of the future? “People forget the stock market is a barometer, not a thermometer, and is looking six months down the road,” said Yale Hirsch in a telephone interview. He publishes several advisory letters including Smart Money, as well as The Stock Trader’s Almanac. “The market’s job has always been to discount the future,” he said.
 
Twitter
Bruce Kamich, CMT
‏@BruceKamich
QUOTE OF THE DAY
”...it’s always best to remember that the stock market is a barometer and not a thermometer.”
Yale Hirsch
7:10 AM - 2 Mar 2015
   
DAWN.com
March 21, 2015
Small market is easy to manipulate
DILAWAR HUSSAIN
There is wisdom in the old adage ‘stock market is a barometer of the economy’, though how well the barometer functions depends on numerous factors.