dead cat bounce

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a temporary and short-lived recovery in the price of a falling stock, asset, or market, after a sharp decline, before the downward trend resumes; the darkly humorous expression comes from the idea that even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great enough height; in financial markets it describes a brief uptick that may mislead investors into thinking a recovery is underway when it is actually just a momentary pause in a sustained bear market; distinguishing a dead cat bounce from a genuine reversal is one of the central challenges of market timing