BizJournals Portfolio
Home >   Business Views, Opinions and Blogs >   Business Blogs >   Market Movers >  

Glossary

Market Movers

by Felix Salmon
Main
Where are the Risk Auditors?   From Citigroup to Citicorp

Recent Blog Posts

Links

Jan 13 2009 3:32pm EDT

Glossary

Josh Giersch has a wonderful financial devil's dictionary up today. Here are some of my favorites:

Correction
What stock analysts issue after slapping a "buy" recommendation on a stock that subsequently goes to zero.

Credit default swap
A financial instrument where one party pays a fixed stream of semiannual payments, and in return for the payments receives a massive counterparty risk headache.

Currency peg
What you wear on your nose when going out to buy Icelandic kroner.

Deflation
The look on a trader's face on bonus day.

Preference shares
A way for banks to borrow money from the government at 9%, then deposit the money with the Fed and earn 0.5%.

Sub-prime mortgages
Any mortgage granted by Wachovia or WaMu.

To see the final entry, on "yield spread", I'm afraid you'll just need to check it out for yourself.

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.


Connect With Portfolio.com
Like Portfolio on Facebook

Come on, like us—you know you want to.

Follow Portfolio on Twitter

Follow us and if you're an innovative entrepreneur, we'll return the favor.

The Mix

Today's top stories, conversation starters, and the back nine business bites.

spotlight on

People & Ideas

Whisky To-Go-Go

Now there's a company that let's you taste your knowledge of fine blended Scotches by mixing a whisky of your own. Read More