When stock phrases mean, ‘I don’t know’

WE SOMETIMES see market commentators describe a fall in stocks after a strong rally as “a healthy correction”, implying that a normal uptick will soon resume and there’s nothing to worry about.

But if you think about it – if a fall is “healthy”, then logic dictates that the prior rise must have been “unhealthy”, yet this is very rarely heard when prices are surging.

(Conversely, if one believes a large rally to be “healthy”, then it must follow that a subsequent fall must be “unhealthy”.)