Wooly Bully

Well, it's nice to see that someone has a sense of humor about the recent nosedive in stocks.

In honor of this week's steep declines on global markets, a 2,000-pound bull named TC paid a visit to the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange this morning for the ceremonial ringing of the opening bell. (We are, to be sure, still, if barely, in a bull market - nudge, nudge, wink, wink - one that began in 2002.)

TC had some help on the actual bell-ringing from Pennsylvania native Clovis Crane, both of whom appeared at the exchange courtesy of World's Toughest Cowboy Rodeo, a tournament series for the sport of bull-riding.

The cowboy and the bronc will both be participating in Toughest Cowboy's next event, which takes on Saturday in Philadelphia.

The exchange's spokeswoman, Barbara Sorid, says that the bell-ringing ceremony has always been used as an opportunity to showcase events and subjects that are meaningful to the city of Philadelphia.

"We found out on Wednesday that the rodeo was in town and the decision was made based on that and on the news of the falling markets," Sorid said.

Here's to hoping that TC will be just the good luck charm we need to keep the bull market running.

Liz Gunnison