Archive for the ‘ Investment Terms ’ Category

Runner

by admin | July 12, 2007 | In Investment Terms No Comments

A broker employee who delivers a market order to the broker's floor trader. After a customer places an order to the broker's order taker, the runner will pass the instructions to the pit trader and wait for confirmation. Once the trade is executed, the runner will return to the order taker, confirming the order has been filled.

A type of reinsurance that transfers over only a finite or
limited amount of risk. Risk is reduced through accounting or
financial methods, along with the actual transfer of economic
risk. By transferring less risk to the reinsurer, the insurer
receives coverage on its potential claims at a lower cost than
traditional reinsurance.

Investopedia Says:
------------------------------------------------------------
For example, an insurer will set aside an amount to cover a
percentage of the payouts that would be required if the particular
risk is realized. Only when the amount does not cover the payouts
will the reinsurer cover the risk. This limits the potential risk
that the reinsurer faces and leads to lower costs for the
insurer. The amount set aside is usually invested in government
bonds and provides income that is put against potential claims.
Due to the highly complex structure of these risk instruments,
there can be abuses where no risk is transferred and the insurer's
income is improved.

A theory that states it is possible to make money by buying
securities, whether overvalued or not, and later selling them
at a profit because there will always be someone (a bigger or
greater fool) who is willing to pay the higher price.

Investopedia Says:
------------------------------------------------------------
When acting in accordance with the greater fool theory, an
investor buys questionable securities without any regard to
their quality, but with the hope of quickly selling them off
to another investor (the greater fool), who might also be
hoping to flip it quickly. Unfortunately, speculative bubbles
always burst eventually, leading to a rapid depreciation in
share price due to the selloff.

Fool’s Gold

by admin | March 30, 2007 | In Investment Terms No Comments

A gold-colored mineral that is often mistaken for real gold.

Also known as Iron Pyrite.

During historical periods of gold rushes, many
less-than-knowledgeable miners would frequently believe that
they hit the motherload upon finding a huge cache of fool's gold.
Unfortunately, unlike the real stuff, fool's gold is relatively
worthless.

Regret Theory

by admin | March 29, 2007 | In Investment Terms No Comments

A theory that says people anticipate regret if they make a wrong choice, and take this anticipation into consideration when making decisions. Fear of regret can play a large role in dissuading or motivating someone to do something.

Inverted Spread

by admin | March 26, 2007 | In Investment Terms No Comments

A situation in which the yield difference between a longer term financial instrument and a shorter term instrument is negative. This is calculated by subtracting the longer term by the shorter term. In effect, the shorter term instrument is yielding a higher rate of return than the longer term instrument. This is in contrast to what is considered a normal market, where longer term instruments should yield higher returns to compensate for time.

An arrangement whereby the Federal Reserve sells government securities (U.S. Treasuries) to an institutional dealer or the central bank of another country with the contractual agreement to purchase the security back within a short period of time, usually less than two weeks. The security is bought back at the same price at which it was sold, and decreases banking reserves during the term of the matched sale-purchase agreement.

This is also known as a "system MSP".taken from investopedia.com