How To Describe a Stock Sell-Off (reprise)

The below post originally ran on June 7th 2010.  US stocks have just sold off for 7 of the last 7 days, a dismal feat not seen since the dark days of 2008.  If anything, the guide below is even more apropos now than it was a month ago…

***

Attention fellow Econo-Journo-Bloggers, or whatever it is we are calling ourselves this week…

Lately the market has given us plenty of opportunity to deplete our stores of stock-related descriptive verbs and adjectives.  As a service to those who write about the daily ups and downs of the equity market, I’ve compiled the below list as a helpful resource during sell-offs:

“Today, stocks were …

Crushed
Destroyed
Poleaxed (a personal fave)
Creamed
Bloodied
Bludgeoned
Eviscerated
Shawshanked
Wiped out
Killed
Waterboarded
Crowbarred
Annihilated

“The market responded by …

Slumping
Fading
Plummeting
Crashing
Flash-Crashing
Dropping sharply
Gapping down
Giving up
Breaking down
Collapsing
Retreating
Rolling over

“Thusday’s sell-off was …

Harsh
Disorderly
Severe
Incomprehensible
Merciless
Bottomless
Relentless
Broad-based
Epic
Torturous
Spectacular
Typical

Feel free to grab one of these terms or phrases for your market wrap ups or updates.  Something tells me they may come in handy this summer.

Chime in if I’ve missed any good ones.