The vote is being closely watched both as a measure of the continent's progress toward consolidating democracy and as a bellwether of the stability of Nigeria, the world's sixth-largest oil producer.
As a bellwether of how hedge funds have fared over the summer, the financial performance reported Wednesday by the Man Group, the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund manager, does not exactly inspire confidence.
The company, the world's largest maker of networking equipment for steering traffic on the Internet, is considered a bellwether of corporate technology spending, and investors were hoping Cisco executives would declare that a widespread recovery was under way.
Temporary staffing is often a bellwether of employment.
Mr. Lehrer called Queens a bellwether of change in America.
Fashion has an uncanny knack for acting as a bellwether of changing times.
The campaign kickoff is being seen as a bellwether of larger national political trends.
But it probably shouldn't be relied on as a bellwether of investor sentiment.
Where a country buries its dead is a bellwether of political life and social fabric.
In that light, Armagh offers a bellwether of the currents sweeping the church.
