Meaning:

    “死猫” means “dead cat,” and “跳” means “bounce” or “jump.” This term is the literal translation of “dead cat bounce,” which originated on Wall Street. In finance, a dead cat bounce is a small, brief recovery in the price of a declining stock. Derived from the idea that “even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height,” the phrase is also popularly applied to any case where a subject experiences a brief resurgence during or following a severe decline. The earliest use of the phrase dates to 1985 when the Singaporean and Malaysian stock markets bounced back after a hard fall during the recession of that year. Journalists Horace Brag and Wong Sulong of the Financial Times were reported as saying the market rise was a “dead cat bounce.”

    Example:

    A: 上次有个朋友打赌说铁矿石九月的价格不到三百五十元以下他就出钱给我们每人发个大红包。

    Shàngcì yǒu gè péngyǒu dǎdǔ shuō tiěkuàngshí jǐuyuě de jiàgé bùdào sānbǎiwǔshí yuán yǐxià tā jìu chūqián gěi wǒmen měirén fā gè dà hóngbāo。

    The other day a friend made a bet predicting that the price of iron ore would drop to below 350 yuan a ton in September, and that if it doesn’t, he would give out his own money to pay us.

    B: 可是前一段时间还反弹了。

    Kěshì qián yīduàn shíjiān hái fǎntán le。

    But the iron ore price rebounded lately.

    A: 大趋势看跌，这一波不过是死猫跳罢了。

    Dà qūshì kàn diē, zhè yī bō bùguò shì sǐmāotiào ba le。

    The general trend is still downward, and that was just a dead cat bounce.