Hiccup

A term that refers to a slight setback in a bull market or long term uptrend. A hiccup is usually irrelevant when seen in the view of a longer term context.

However, a hiccup, like a correction, can only been defined as such after the fact. It is hard to determine whether or not a short term downturn in the market or a company’s earnings is a short term fluctuation or a warning of future weakness to come.