If you worry about your finances or you listen to the news about the global economy, I’m sure you are glad you’re still able to shop at the supermarket. Glum predictions about the recession keep see-sawing, stocks are all over the place, and it must even make some speculators dizzy.

Including Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who’s being used as an economic oracle these days. But not even he can predict the economy.

Anyway, if you and your friends want to join the discussion about prices or other economic figures, you need to know some common words for going up or down. If it doesn’t teach you about the economy, at least you’ll know some economics.

The prices go up (yay, if you have stocks or a house. Not cool, when you’re going to the shops):

The prices are rising;

They’re jumping or leaping (same meaning);

They’re recovering;

They’re increasing;

They’re soaring (they’re with their feet off the ground).

They’re going down:

They’re falling;

They’re dropping;

They’re declining;

They’re decreasing;

They’re diving;

They’re sliding;

They’re sagging.

They’re going up and down:

They’re bouncing;

They’re fluctuating;

They’re wobbling.

Note: you can use these same words to talk about graphs, for instance when you’re giving a presentation.