The Power of Symbols for Stocks

Symbols are used throughout our lives to represent ideas, processes, or even physical entities… to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon, even without the word written on it, almost universally communicates “STOP.”

Often symbols stand for something more important than the specific symbol itself… and the context in which that symbol is found can play an important role in determining a particular symbol’s apparent meaning. A skull and crossbones to some mean poison… while to others may mean treasure. Either way, the symbol and its interpretation is critical to the interpreter.

Greece is a symbol. It represent an ideology, a political process, and an economy far greater than itself. As a member state of the European Union, and a member of the Euro currency, Greece is a symbol that is as significant and diversely understood as the skull and crossbones.

To some, Greece is a symbol of a poison… a European Union plague that has infected every tissue of the European economic body that we hear so much about in the news these days. It represents an almost certain death of an ideology… an economic process… and a way of life.

For others, Greece is a symbol of a treasure… marking the very place where opportunity meets preparation. A spot on the world map where all economic hopefuls can meet, dig deep through the sand, and find an abundance of treasure. Right now, Greece is that fairy tale that everyone wants to believe in… with a touch of magic.

This weekend, people are flipping the page… about to read the next chapter in Greece’s story. A story of leisure meeting landlord… a “once upon a time” hoping to become a “happily ever after.”  And the world markets, not merely those 27 member states of the European Union, are being represented in this story… by this symbol. Yes, Greece is important not because of it’s GDP… after all, Apple has a greater market cap than the whole country of Greece’s GDP.

Rather, Greece is consequential because it is a symbol… that stands for something more important than the country itself. Like a skull and crossbones, to some Greece will remain a poison… while to others, it may point to treasures. It all depends on your context!