Air Pocket Stock

You know what an air pocket is. You're on the Southwest commuter to San Jose. Everything's fine at 37,000 feet, then all of a sudden, you're at 34,000 feet. The drinks seem gravity-less, and the flight attendant is plastered against the ceiling.

Air pockets happen in the stock and bond markets as well. Sudden shocks break the system. Whatever.com, that was happily going along, trading at $37/share...suddenly drops to $34.23/share on the unexpected shock of a reported metric not warmly welcomed by the Street.

But note that, just as Southwest usually returns to its 37,000 foot home, stocks hitting air pockets usually float back up to their trading range after the drinks get mopped up.