I always had a similar distaste for headlines with words like "blast" and "slam", but learned recently[0] that these are standard abbreviations for headline writers to save space. Your words are not on that list from Wikipedia, but "soar" & "crash" might be used in such a way to shorten "{in,de}crease". (But certainly not "skyrocket"!)
Of course, isn't that convenient that they carry greater emotional weight...