Sabanes Oxley Act: This is an Act passed in the USA to ensure that corporations meet pres ...

Sacred Cow: An asset, position, or project which is considered protected by manage ...

Safe harbor lease: A lease to transfer tax benefits of ownership (depreciation and debt t ...

Safekeep: For a fee, bankers will hold in their vault, clip coupons on, and pres ...

Safety cushion: In a contingent immunization strategy, the difference between the init ...

Safety-net return: The minimum available return that will trigger an immunization strateg ...

Sale and lease-back agreement: Sale of an existing asset to a financial institution that then leases ...

Sales charge: The fee charged by a mutual fund when purchasing shares, usually payab ...

Sales forecast: A key input to a firm's financial planning process. External sales for ...

Sales-type lease: An arrangement whereby a firm leases its own equipment, such as Acer l ...

Salvage value: Scrap value of plant and equipment.

Salvage Value: Is the amount remaining after a depreciated useful life. It refers to ...

Samurai bonds: Foreign bonds issued in Japan.

Samurai market: The foreign market in Japan.

SAR: Saudi Riyal from Saudi Arabia. Each riyal is composed of 100 hallalahs ...

Savings and Loan association: A US-type state-chartered institution that accepts savings deposits an ...

Savings deposits: Accounts that pay interest, typically at below-market interest rates, ...

SBD: Solomon Islands Dollar from The Solomon Islands.

SBIC: Small Business Investment Company.

Scale: A bank that offers to pay different rates of interest on CDs of varyin ...



Scale enhancing: Describes a project that is in the same risk class as the whole firm.

Scale in: When a trader or investor gradually takes a position in a security or ...

Scalp: To trade for small gains. It normally involves establishing and liquid ...

Scalper: A trader who holds positions for a very short period of time.

Scalping: The practice of trading in and out of the market on very small price f ...

Scenario analysis: The use of horizon analysis to project bond total returns under differ ...

Scheduled cash flows: The mortgage principal and interest payments due to be paid under the ...

Scope creep: The temptation to add more and more features to a product release unti ...

SCR: Seychelles Rupee from the Seychelles and the British Indian Ocean Terr ...

SDD: Sudanese Dinar from Sudan.

SDP: Sudanese Pound from Sudan.

Search costs: Costs associated with locating a counterparty to a trade, including ex ...

Seasonal Adjustment: A statistical technique used to remove the effect of normal seasonal f ...

Seasoned datings: Extended credit for customers who order goods in periods other than pe ...

Seasoned issue: Issue of a security for which there is an existing market.

Seasoned new issue: A new issue of stock after the company's securities have previously be ...

Seat: Refers to membership on an exchange. A seat can be purchased or leased ...

SEC: The Security and Exchange commission (SEC) was created by the Securiti ...

Second pass regression: A cross-sectional regression of portfolio returns on betas. The estima ...

Secondary Distribution: The redistribution to the public of a block of shares owned by an exis ...



Secondary issue: A secondary issue is both a (a) procedure for selling blocks of season ...

Secondary market: The market where securities are traded after they are initially offere ...

Section 482: United States Department of Treasury regulations governing transfer pr ...

Sector: Refers to a group of securities that are similar with respect to matur ...

Secured debt: Debt that, in the event of default, has first claim on specified asset ...

Securitization: The process of creating a passthrough, such as the mortgage pass-throu ...

Security: Piece of paper that proves ownership of stocks, bonds and other invest ...

Security characteristic line: A plot of the excess return on a security over the risk-free rate as a ...

Security deposit (initial): Synonymous with the term margin. A cash amount of funds that must be d ...

Security market line: Line representing the relationship between expected return and market ...

Security market plane: A plane that shows the equilibrium between expected return and the bet ...

Security selection decision: Choosing the particular securities to include in a portfolio.

SEDAR: SEDAR (System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval) is the C ...

Seed investing: Investment by a venture capital firm in a company before it has a real ...

Segregated Funds: These funds guarantee that, regardless how the fund performs, at least ...

SEK: Swedish Krona from Sweden. The plural form is kronor and one krona is ...

Self-liquidating loan: Loan to finance current assets, The sale of the current assets provide ...

Self-selection: Consequence of a contract that induces only one group (e.g. low risk i ...

Sell limit order: Conditional trading order that indicates that a security may be sold a ...

Sell-side analyst: Also called a Wall Street analyst, a financial analyst who works for a ...



Seller's Option: The right of a seller to select, within the limits prescribed by a con ...

Selling Away: When a broker solicits you to purchase securities not held or offered ...

Selling group: All banks involved in selling or marketing a new issue of stock or bon ...

Selling short: If an investor thinks the price of a stock is going down, the investor ...

Semi-strong form efficiency: A form of pricing efficiency where the price of the security fully ref ...

Senior debt: Debt that, in the event of bankruptcy, must be repaid before subordina ...

Seniority: The order of repayment. In the event of bankruptcy, senior debt must b ...

Sensitivity analysis: Analysis of the effect on a project's profitability due to changes in ...

Separate Trading of Registered Interest (STRIPS): Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities (STRI ...

Separation property: The property that portfolio choice can be separated into two independe ...

Separation theorem: The value of an investment to an individual is not dependent on consum ...

Serial bonds: Corporate bonds arranged so that specified principal amounts become du ...

Serial covariance: The covariance between a variable and the lagged value of the variable ...

Series: Options: All option contracts of the same class that also have the sam ...

Series A: Series A usually refers to a class of shares subscribed for by venture ...

Series bond: Bond that may be issued in several series under the same indenture.

Set of contracts perspective: View of corporation as a set of contracting relationships, among indiv ...

Settlement: When payment is made for a trade.

Settlement date: The date on which payment is made to settle a trade. For stocks traded ...

Settlement price: The average of the prices that a futures contract trades for immediate ...

Settlement rate: The rate suggested in Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) 87 fo ...

SGD: Singapore Dollar from Singapore. The Singapore dollar, divided into 10 ...

Share: Companies issue shares as a means of raising equity finance and determ ...

Share repurchase: Program by which a corporation buys back its own shares in the open ma ...

Shareholders' equity: This is a company's total assets minus total liabilities. A company's ...

Shareholders' letter: A section of an annual report where one can find jargon-free discussio ...

Shares: Certificates or book entries representing ownership in a corporation o ...

Shark repellant: Amendment to company charter intended to protect it against takeover.

Shark Repellent: Number of measures taken by a corporation to discourage an unwanted ta ...

Sharpe benchmark: A statistically created benchmark that adjusts for a managers' index-l ...

Sharpe ratio: A measure of a portfolio's excess return relative to the total variabi ...

Shelf registration: A procedure that allows firms to file one registration statement cover ...

Shell Company: This term refers to a company that is listed on the Stock Market but n ...

Shingle Theory: A suitability doctrine first introduced by the SEC in the 30's. The id ...

Shipping Certificate: A negotiable instrument used by several futures exchanges as the futur ...

Shirking: The tendency to do less work when the return is smaller. Owners may ha ...

Shogun bonds: Shogun bonds consist of foreign-currency bonds issued in Tokyo in curr ...

Shop: Wall Street jargon for a firm.

Shopping: Seeking to obtain the best bid or offer available by calling a number ...

Short: One who has sold a contract to establish a market position and who has ...

Short bonds: Bonds with short current maturities.

Short hedge: The sale of a futures contract(s) to eliminate or lessen the possible ...

Short interest: This is the total number of shares of a security that investors have b ...

Short position: Occurs when a person sells stocks he or she does not yet own. Shares m ...

Short sale: Selling a security that the seller does not own but is committed to re ...

Short selling: Short selling, usually just referred to as "shorting", involves sellin ...

Short straddle: A straddle in which one put and one call are sold.

Short Term Gain: The profit realized from the sale of securities or other capital asset ...

Short-run operating activities: Events and decisions concerning the short-term finance of a firm, such ...

Short-squeezed: If the broker runs out of shares to borrow at any time while a short c ...

Short-term bonds: Bonds with a maturity of between one and five years.

Short-term financial plan: A financial plan that covers the coming fiscal year.

Short-term investment services: Services that assist firms in making short-term investments.

Short-term solvency ratios: Ratios used to judge the adequacy of liquid assets for meeting short-t ...

Short-term tax exempts: Short-term securities issued by states, municipalities, local housing ...

Shortage cost: Costs that fall with increases in the level of investment in current a ...

Shortfall risk: The risk of falling short of any investment target.

SHP: St Helena Pound from St Helena.

SIC: Abbreviation for Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). Each 4-digi ...

SIC Code: The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code is a numbering syste ...

Side effects: Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm.

Sight draft: Demand for immediate payment.

Signal: The process of conveying information through a firm's actions.

Signaling approach: Approach to the determination of the optimal capital structure asserti ...

Signaling view (on dividend policy): The argument that dividend changes are important signals to investors ...

SIMEX: SIMEX (Singapore International Monetary Exchange) is a leading future ...

Simple compound growth method: A method of calculating the growth rate by relating the terminal value ...

Simple interest: Interest calculated only on the initial investment.

Simple linear regression: A regression analysis between only two variables, one dependent and th ...

Simple linear trend model: An extrapolative statistical model that asserts that earnings have a b ...

Simple moving average: The mean, calculated at any time over a past period of fixed length.

Simple prospect: An investment opportunity where a certain initial wealth is placed at ...

Simulation: The use of a mathematical model to imitate a situation many times in o ...

Single country fund: A mutual fund that invests in individual countries outside the United ...

Single factor model: A model of security returns that acknowledges only one common factor.

Single index model: A model of stock returns that decomposes influences on returns into a ...

Single-payment bond: A bond that will make only one payment of principal and interest.

Single-premium deferred annuity: An insurance policy bought by the sponsor of a pension plan for a sing ...

Sinker: Sinking fund.

Sinking fund: A sinker is a fund created by a provision in many bond contracts that ...

Sinking Fund: A method whereby a company purchases a given percentage of its bonds o ...

Sinking fund requirement: A condition included in some corporate bond indentures that requires t ...

SIT: Tolar from Slovenia. Slovenia introduced its own currency, the Slovene ...

Size: Large in size, as in the size of an offering, the size of an order, or ...

Skewed distribution: Probability distribution in which an unequal number of observations li ...

Skip-day settlement: The trade is settled one business day beyond what is normal.

SKK: Slovak Koruna from Slovakia (The Slovak Republic). The Slovak Koruna ( ...

Slippage: The difference between estimated transaction costs and actual transact ...

SLL: Leone from Sierra Leone.

Small issues exemption: Securities issues that involve less than $1.5 million are not required ...

Small-firm effect: The tendency of small firms (in terms of total market capitalization) ...

Smart Card: The Smart Card (SC) is a sophisticated stored-value card that contains ...

Smile: A smile is the variation of implied volatility with strike price.

Smithsonian agreement: A revision to the Bretton Woods international monetary system which wa ...

Societe Anonyme (SA) or Sociedad Anonima (SA): A Societe Anonyme is a limited liability corporation established under ...

Soft Capital Rationing: Capital rationing that under certain circumstances can be violated or ...

Soft currency: A currency that is expected to drop in value relative to other currenc ...

Soft dollars: The value of research services that brokerage houses supply to investm ...

Soften: The process of a slowly declining market price.

Sole proprietorship: A business owned by a single individual. The sole proprietor pays no c ...

Solvency: The ability of a company to meet all its obligations.

SOS: Somali Shilling from Somalia.

Sovereign risk: The risk that a central bank will impose foreign exchange regulations ...

Span: To cover all contingencies within a specified range.

Sparbuch: An Austrian numbered savings account.

Special dividend: Also referred to as an extra dividend. Dividend that is unlikely to be ...

Special drawing rights (SDR): A form of international reserve assets, created by the IMF in 1967, wh ...

Special sauce: We can thank McDonald's for this one. It's used to refer to anything p ...

Specialist: On an exchange, the member firm that is designated as the market maker ...

Specialist System: A type of trading commonly used for the exchange trading of securities ...

Specialty fund: A mutual fund that concentrates its investments on a specific industri ...

Specific issues market: The market in which dealers reverse in securities they wish to short.

Spectail: A dealer that does business with retail but that concentrates more on ...

Speculative Bubble: A rapid, but usually short-lived, run-up in prices caused by excessive ...

Speculative demand (for money): The need for cash to take advantage of investment opportunities that m ...

Speculative grade bond: Bond rated Ba or lower by Moody's, or BB or lower by S&P, or an unrate ...

Speculative motive: A desire to hold cash for the purpose of being in a position to exploi ...

Speculator: One, who attempts to anticipate price changes and, through buying and ...

Spin-off: A company can create an independent company from an existing part of t ...

Split: The conversion of each existing share into two or more shares. Sometim ...

Split-fee option: An option on an option. The buyer generally executes the split fee wit ...

Split-rate tax system: A tax system that taxes retained earnings at a higher rate than earnin ...

Spot exchange rates: Exchange rate on currency for immediate delivery.

Spot futures parity theorem: Describes the theoretically correct relationship between spot and futu ...

Spot interest rate: Interest rate fixed today on a loan that is made today.

Spot lending: The origination of mortgages by processing applications taken directly ...

Spot month: The nearest delivery month on a futures contract.

Spot price: The current marketprice of the actual physical commodity. Also called ...

Spot rate: The theoretical yield on a zero-coupon Treasury security.

Spot rate curve: The graphical depiction of the relationship between the spot rates and ...

Spot trade: The purchase and sale of a foreign currency, commodity, or other item ...

Spot volatilities: The volatilities used to price a cap when a different volatility is us ...

Spread: A spread is either (a) the gap between bid and ask prices of a stock o ...

Spread income: Also called margin income, the difference between income and cost. For ...

Spread option: AN option where the payoff depends on the difference between two marke ...

Spread strategy: Spreading is a strategy that involves a position in one or more option ...

Spread transaction: A position in two or more options of the same type.

Spreadsheet: A computer program that organizes numerical data into rows and columns ...

Spud: To commence drilling for oil and/or gas; to sink a well.

Squeeze: A market situation in which the lack of supplies tends to force shorts ...

SRG: Surinam Guilder from Suriname.

Stagflation: A recently coined term that combines the economic effects of "inflatio ...

Stakeholders: All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm - ...

Stand-alone principle: Investment principle that states a firm should accept or reject a proj ...

Standard & Poor's 500: The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) is based on a portfolio of 5 ...

Standard & Poor's MidCap 400: The Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index is somewhat similar to the S&P ...

Standard Deviation: A common measure of spread in the sampling distribution of a random va ...

Standard error: In statistics, a measure of the possible error in an estimate.

Standardized normal distribution: A normal distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

Standardized value: Also called the normal deviate, the distance of one data point from th ...

Standby agreement: In a rights issue, agreement that the underwriter will purchase any st ...

Standby fee: Amount paid to an underwriter who agrees to purchase any stock that is ...

Standstill agreements: Contracts where the bidding firm in a takeover attempt agrees to limit ...

Stated annual interest rate: The interest rate expressed as a per annum percentage, by which intere ...

Stated conversion price: At the time of issuance of a convertible security, the price the issue ...

Stated maturity: For the CMO tranche, the date the last payment would occur at zero CPR ...

Statement billing: Billing method in which the sales for a period such as a month (for wh ...

Statement of cash flows: A financial statement showing a firm's cash receipts and cash payments ...

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 52: This is the currency translation standard currently used by U.S. firm ...

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 8: This is a currency translation standard previously in use by U.S. acc ...

Statement-of-cash-flows method: A method of cash budgeting that is organized along the lines of the ca ...

Static hedge: A hedge that does not have to be changed once it is initiated.

Static options replication: A static options replication is a procedure for hedging a portfolio th ...

Static theory of capital structure: Theory that the firm's capital structure is determined by a trade-off ...

Statute of Limitations: The deadline after which a party claiming to be injured by the settlor ...

Statutory surplus: The surplus of an insurance company determined by the accounting treat ...

STD: Dobra from São Tomé and Príncipe.

Steady state: As the MBS pool ages, or four to six months after it was passed at lea ...

Steepening of the yield curve: A change in the yield curve where the spread between the yield on a lo ...

Step-up: To increase, as in step up the tax basis of an asset.

Step-up bond: A bond that pays a lower coupon rate for an initial period which then ...

Step-up swap: A swap where the principal increases over time in a predetermined way.

Sterilized intervention: Foreign exchange market intervention in which the monetary authorities ...

Stochastic models: Liability-matching models that assume that the liability payments and ...

Stochastic process: An equation describing the probabilistic behavior of a stochastic vari ...

Stochastic variable: A variable whose future value is uncertain.

Stock: Ownership of a corporation which is represented by shares which repres ...

Stock dividend: Payment of a corporate dividend in the form of stock rather than cash. ...

Stock exchanges: In the US, a stock exchange is a formal organization, approved and reg ...

Stock index: A stock index tracks changes in the value of a hypothetical portfolio ...

Stock index option: An option in which the underlying is a common stock index.

Stock market: Also called the equity market, the market for trading equities.

Stock option: An option in which the underlying is the common stock of a corporation ...

Stock replacement strategy: A strategy for enhancing a portfolio's return, employed when the futur ...

Stock repurchase: A firm's repurchase of outstanding shares of its common stock.

Stock selection: An active portfolio management technique that focuses on advantageous ...

Stock split: Occurs when a firm issues new shares of stock but in turn lowers the c ...

Stock ticker: This is a lettered symbol assigned to securities and mutual funds that ...

Stockholder: Holder of equity shares in a firm.

Stockholder equity: Balance sheet item that includes the book value of ownership in the co ...

Stockholder's books: Set of books kept by firm management for its annual report that follow ...

Stockholder's equity: The residual claims that stockholders have against a firm's assets, ca ...

Stockout: Running out of inventory.

Stop Limit Order: A stop limit order is an order that goes into force as soon as there i ...

Stop order (or stop): An order to buy or sell at the market when a definite price is reached ...

Stop-limit order: A stop order that designates a price limit. In contrast to the stop or ...

Stop-loss order: An order to sell a stock when the price falls to a specified level.

Stopping curve: A curve showing the refunding rates for different points in time at wh ...

Stopping curve refunding rate: A refunding rate that falls on the stopping curve.

Storage costs: The cost of storing commodity.

Straddle: A long position in a call and a put with the same exercise price.

Straight line depreciation: An equal dollar amount of depreciation in each accounting period.

Straight value: Also called investment value, the value of a convertible security with ...

Straight voting: A shareholder may cast all of his votes for each candidate for the boa ...

Strangle: A long position in a call and a put with different strike prices.

Strap: A long position in two call options and one put option with the same e ...

Stratified equity indexing: A method of constructing a replicating portfolio in which the stocks i ...

Stratified sampling approach to indexing: An approach in which the index is divided into cells, each representi ...

Stratified sampling bond indexing: A method of bond indexing that divides the index into cells, each cell ...

Street: Brokers, dealers, underwriters, and other knowledgeable members of the ...

Street name: Describes securities held by a broker on behalf of a client but regist ...

Stress testing: Testing of the impact of extreme market movements on the value of a po ...

Strike index: For a stock index option, the index value at which the buyer of the op ...

Strike price: The stated price per share for which underlying stock may be purchased ...

Strip: A long position in one call option and two put options with the same e ...

Strip Bonds: The capital portion of a bond from which the coupons have been strippe ...

Strip PC: Strip mortgage participation certificate (strip PC) is an ownership in ...

Stripped bond: Bond that can be subdivided into a series of zero-coupon bonds.

Stripped mortgage-backed securities (SMBSs): Securities that redistribute the cash flows from the underlying gener ...

Strong Hands: When used in connection with delivery of commodities on futures contra ...

Strong-form efficiency: Pricing efficiency, where the price of a, security reflects all inform ...

Structured arbitrage transaction: A self-funding, self-hedged series of transactions that usually utiliz ...

Structured debt: Debt that has been customized for the buyer, often by incorporating un ...

Structured portfolio strategy: A strategy in which a portfolio is designed to achieve the performance ...

Structured settlement: An agreement in settlement of a lawsuit involving specific payments ma ...

Stub: New shares issued in exchange for old shares in a leveraged recapitali ...

Subject: Refers to a bid or offer that cannot be executed without confirmation ...

Subject to opinion: An auditor's opinion reflecting acceptance of a company's financial st ...

Subjective probabilities: Probabilities that are determined subjectively (for example, on the ba ...

Subordinated debenture bond: An unsecured bond that ranks after secured debt, after debenture bonds ...

Subordinated debt: Debt over which senior debt takes priority. In the event of bankruptcy ...

Subordination clause: A provision in a bond indenture that restricts the issuer's future bor ...

Subpart F: Special category of foreign-source "unearned" income that is currently ...

Subperiod return: The return of a portfolio over a shorter period of time than the evalu ...

Subscription price: Price that the existing shareholders are allowed to pay for a share of ...

Subsidiary: With the regards to the euromarkets, a subsidiary is foreign-based aff ...

Subsidy: A financial contribution by government (including any form of income o ...

Substitute sale: A method for hedging price risk that utilizes debt-market instruments, ...

Substitution swap: A swap in which a money manager exchanges one bond for another bond th ...

Sum-of-The-Parts-Valuation (SoTP): An approach to valuing a company in which each business unit / operati ...

Sum-of-the-years-digits depreciation: The sum-of-the-years-digits (SOTYD) depreciation is a method of accele ...

Sunk costs: Costs that have been incurred and cannot be reversed.

Supermajority: Provision in a company's charter requiring a majority of, say, 80% of ...

SuperMontage: The SuperMontage is NASDAQ's trading system to aggregate quotes and or ...

Supply shock: An event that influences production capacity and costs in an economy.

Support level: A price level below which it is supposedly difficult for a security or ...

SUR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Rouble from the Union of Soviet So ...

Surplus funds: Cash flow available after payment of taxes in the project.

Surprise: A company earnings report that deviates (either positively or negative ...

Surtax: An additional tax levied as a percentage of an income tax amount. Both ...

Sushi bond: A eurobond issued by a Japanese corporation.

Sustainable growth rate: Maximum rate of growth a firm can sustain without increasing financial ...

SVC: El Salvadorian Colón from El Salvador.

Swap: A swap is an agreement to exchange a series of variable cash flows for ...

Swap buy-back: The sale of an interest rate swap by one counterparty to the other, ef ...

Swap rate: The fixed rate in an interest rate swap that causes the swap to have a ...

Swap reversal: An interest rate swap designed to end a counterparty's role in another ...

Swap sale: A swap sale (also referred to as a swap assignment) is a transaction t ...

Swaption: A swaption is an option to enter into an interest rate swap where a sp ...

Sweep account: Account in which the bank takes all of the excess available funds at t ...

Sweet Oil and Gas: Petroleum containing little or no hydrogen sulphide.

SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) i ...

Swing Option: A swing option are found in the energy market. Its value depends on th ...

Swingline facility: Bank borrowing facility to provide finance while the firm replaces U.S ...

Swissy: Jargon for the Swiss Franc (CHF).

Switch: Offsetting a position in one delivery month of a commodity and simulta ...

Switching: Liquidating an existing position and simultaneously reinstating a posi ...

SWOT analysis: A SWOT analysis assesses the strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and ...

Symmetric cash matching: An extension of cash flow matching that allows for the short-term borr ...

Synchronous data: Data available at the same time. In testing option-pricing models, the ...

Syndicate: A group of banks that acts jointly, on a temporary basis, to loan mone ...

Synergistic effect: A violation of value-additivity whereby the value of the combination i ...

Synthetic Futures: A position created by combining call and put options. A synthetic long ...

Synthetic Option: A synthetic is an option created by trading the underlying asset.

Synthetic short sale: Buy one put option and write one call option.

Synthetics: Customized hybrid instruments created by blending an underlying price ...

SYP: Syrian pound from Syria.

Systematic: Common to all businesses.

Systematic risk: The systematic risk of an asset or portfolio is the risk that cannot b ...

Systematic risk principle: Only the systematic portion of risk matters in large, well-diversified ...

SZL: Lilangeni from Swaziland.

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