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stocks, bonds, commodities, and market terms
acquisition the purchase of a controlling interest in one company by another.
across the board stock market activity in which prices move in the same direction.
air pocket stock any stock that plummets sharply, as an aircraft hitting an air pocket.
American Stock Exchange the stock exchange second in trading volume to the New York Stock Exchange. It is located in New York and handles mostly small to medium-size companies. Also known as Amex and the curb.
analyst a person who analyzes companies and their securities and makes buy and sell recommendations.
arbitrage earning a profit by buying a security from one market and selling it back to another market at a higher price. The practice of taking advantage of price discrepancies between two markets. Also, speculating in the stock of a company that is about to be acquired by another company.
arbitrageur one who uses arbitrage to turn a profit. Also known as an arb.
baby bond a bond with a face value of less than $1,000, for small investors.
back-end load a service fee paid by an investor when withdrawing money from an investment, such as a mutual fund.
back off of a stock that has suddenly dropped in price after rising.
bailout a large infusion of cash, loans, stocks, or bonds from an institution or government to a struggling company to rescue it from going bankrupt or out of business.
barometer stock a large stock, such as General Motors, whose market activity reflects the market as a whole. Also known as a bellwether.
bear a person who is pessimistic about the stock market and who believes prices will continue to fall. Opposite of a bull.
bear market a pessimistic market with falling prices over an extended period of time. Opposite of a bull market.
bear raid the practice of selling a large quantity of a stock to force its price down and then rebuying it at the depressed price.
bellwether a security, such as IBM stock, whose price activity indicates which direction the rest of the market will go.
belly up of a company that is going or has gone bankrupt.
bid and asked respectively, the highest price offered for a share of stock at a given time and the lowest price a seller will sell it for. The disparity between the two is known as the spread.
Big Blue nickname for IBM, International Business Machines.
Big Board the New York Stock Exchange.
Black Friday any sharp drop in a financial market. Also known as a Black Monday.
blue chip a common stock of a large corporation, such as IBM, that has had a long history of strong management and profit growth.
blue sky laws laws protecting the public from securities fraud.
boiler room a room or enterprise in which salespeople use high-pressure tactics to sell high-risk or fraudulent securities to investors over the telephone.
bond an interest-bearing certificate of debt, a form of corporate or government security; a formal IOU.
bond ratings a rating system ranging from AAA (very safe; not likely to default) to D (in default) that illustrates a bond issuer's financial health and predicts the probability of default.
bottom fisher an investor who seeks out a stock whose price has dropped to its lowest levels.
boutique a small brokerage house dealing in specialized stocks.
broad tape in brokerage firms, the enlarged, electronic Dow-Jones ticker tape that continuously displays new financial developments.
broker one who buys and sells securities on behalf of another.
bucket shop a brokerage firm that illegally gambles with its clients' holdings without the clients' awareness.
Buck Rogers a security whose price soars or rises sharply in a short period.
bull one who is optimistic about the market and who believes prices will continue an upward trend. Opposite of a bear.
bull market a prolonged period of rising stocks in the market. An optimistic market.
buying on margin buying securities on credit.
buyout the purchase of a controlling interest in a company.
cash cow a company that generates a lot of surplus cash flow.
cats and dogs speculative stocks with unproven track records; high-risk stocks.
churning the unethical frequent trading of a client's holdings in order to generate more commissions.
closely held of a corporation's controlling stock, held by only a small number of shareholders.
Comex Commodity Exchange; the New York-based exchange that trades in aluminum, copper, gold, and silver.
commodities grains, foods, metals.
common stock in a corporation, shares of ownership granting the holder a vote on important company issues as well as entitling him to dividends or a share of the profits.
contrarian an investor who follows a buying or selling strategy opposite or contrary to what most other investors are doing.
controlling interest owning 51 percent or more of a corporation's voting shares.
cornering the market buying a security or commodity in a large enough volume to control its price, an illegal practice.
correction a reversal, usually downward, of a stock's price trend.
crash a collapse of the stock market.