Definition of Vega

Vega

The rate of change in the price of a derivative security relative to the
volatility of the underlying security. When vega is large the security is
sensitive to small changes in volatility.

Greeks

Collectively, "greeks" refer to the financial measures delta, gamma,
lambda, rho, theta, and vega, which are sensitivity measures used in
evaluating derivatives.

discount rate

the rate of return on investment that would be required by a prudent investor to invest in an asset with a specific level risk. Also, a rate of return used to convert a monetary sum, payable or receivable in the future, into present value.

Accelerated cost recovery system (ACRS)

Schedule of depreciation rates allowed for tax purposes.

Accelerated depreciation

Any depreciation method that produces larger deductions for depreciation in the
early years of a project's life. Accelerated cost recovery system (ACRS), which is a depreciation schedule
allowed for tax purposes, is one such example.

Active portfolio strategy

A strategy that uses available information and forecasting techniques to seek a
better performance than a portfolio that is simply diversified broadly. Related: passive portfolio strategy

Adjustable rate preferred stock (ARPS)

Publicly traded issues that may be collateralized by mortgages and MBSs.

After-tax real rate of return

Money after-tax rate of return minus the inflation rate.

All equity rate

The discount rate that reflects only the business risks of a project and abstracts from the
effects of financing.

American Stock Exchange (AMEX)

The second-largest stock exchange in the United States. It trades
mostly in small-to medium-sized companies.

Amortizing interest rate swap

Swap in which the principal or national amount rises (falls) as interest rates
rise (decline).

Annual percentage rate (APR)

The periodic rate times the number of periods in a year. For example, a 5%
quarterly return has an APR of 20%.

Arithmetic average (mean) rate of return

Arithmetic mean return.

Arm's length price

The price at which a willing buyer and a willing unrelated seller would freely agree to
transact.

Ask price

A dealer's price to sell a security; also called the offer price.

Asset-backed security

A security that is collateralized by loans, leases, receivables, or installment contracts
on personal property, not real estate.

Auction rate preferred stock (ARPS)

Floating rate preferred stock, the dividend on which is adjusted every
seven weeks through a Dutch auction.

Average (across-day) measures

An estimation of price that uses the average or representative price of a
large number of trades.

Average rate of return (ARR)

The ratio of the average cash inflow to the amount invested.

Average tax rate

Taxes as a fraction of income; total taxes divided by total taxable income.

Barbell strategy

A strategy in which the maturities of the securities included in the portfolio are concentrated
at two extremes.

Bargain-purchase-price option

Gives the lessee the option to purchase the asset at a price below fair market
value When the lease expires.

Base interest rate

Related: Benchmark interest rate.

Basic business strategies

Key strategies a firm intends to pursue in carrying out its business plan.

Basis price

price expressed in terms of yield to maturity or annual rate of return.

Benchmark interest rate

Also called the base interest rate, it is the minimum interest rate investors will
demand for investing in a non-Treasury security. It is also tied to the yield to maturity offered on a
comparable-maturity Treasury security that was most recently issued ("on-the-run").

Bid price

This is the quoted bid, or the highest price an investor is willing to pay to buy a security. Practically
speaking, this is the available price at which an investor can sell shares of stock. Related: Ask , offer.

Bill of exchange

General term for a document demanding payment.

Break-even payment rate

The prepayment rate of a MBS coupon that will produce the same CFY as that of
a predetermined benchmark MBS coupon. used to identify for coupons higher than the benchmark coupon
the prepayment rate that will produce the same CFY as that of the benchmark coupon; and for coupons lower
than the benchmark coupon the lowest prepayment rate that will do so.

Break-even tax rate

The tax rate at which a party to a prospective transaction is indifferent between entering
into and not entering into the transaction.

Broker loan rate

Related: Call money rate.

Bullet strategy

A strategy in which a portfolio is constructed so that the maturities of its securities are highly
concentrated at one point on the yield curve.

Buy-and-hold strategy

A passive investment strategy with no active buying and selling of stocks from the
time the portfolio is created until the end of the investment horizon.

Call money rate

Also called the broker loan rate , the interest rate that banks charge brokers to finance
margin loans to investors. The broker charges the investor the call money rate plus a service charge.

Call price

The price, specified at issuance, at which the issuer of a bond may retire part of the bond at a
specified call date.

Call price

The price for which a bond can be repaid before maturity under a call provision.

Changes in Financial Position

Sources of funds internally provided from operations that alter a company's
cash flow position: depreciation, deferred taxes, other sources, and capital expenditures.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)

A not-for-profit corporation owned by its members. Its primary
functions are to provide a location for trading futures and options, collect and disseminate market information,
maintain a clearing mechanism and enforce trading rules.

Clean price

Bond price excluding accrued interest.

Combination strategy

A strategy in which a put and with the same strike price and expiration are either both
bought or both sold. Related: Straddle

Commodities Exchange Center (CEC)

The location of five New York futures exchanges: Commodity
Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), the New York Mercantile exchange (NYMEX), the New York Cotton Exchange,
the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa exchange (CSC), and the New York futures exchange (NYFE). common size
statement A statement in which all items are expressed as a percentage of a base figure, useful for purposes of
analyzing trends and the changing relationship between financial statement items. For example, all items in
each year's income statement could be presented as a percentage of net sales.

Conglomerate

A firm engaged in two or more unrelated businesses.

Conglomerate merger

A merger involving two or more firms that are in unrelated businesses.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

The CPI, as it is called, measures the prices of consumer goods and services and is a
measure of the pace of U.S. inflation. The U.S.Department of Labor publishes the CPI very month.

Conversion parity price

Related:Market conversion price

Convertible price

The contractually specified price per share at which a convertible security can be
converted into shares of common stock.

Convertible exchangeable preferred stock

Convertible preferred stock that may be exchanged, at the
issuer's option, into convertible bonds that have the same conversion features as the convertible preferred
stock.

Convertible preferred stock

Preferred stock that can be converted into common stock at the option of the holder.

Convertible security

A security that can be converted into common stock at the option of the security holder,
including convertible bonds and convertible preferred stock.

Corporate acquisition

The acquisition of one firm by anther firm.

Corporate bonds

Debt obligations issued by corporations.

Corporate charter

A legal document creating a corporation.

Corporate finance

One of the three areas of the discipline of finance. It deals with the operation of the firm
(both the investment decision and the financing decision) from that firm's point of view.

Corporate financial management

The application of financial principals within a corporation to create and
maintain value through decision making and proper resource management.

Corporate financial planning

financial planning conducted by a firm that encompasses preparation of both
long- and short-term financial plans.

Corporate processing float

The time that elapses between receipt of payment from a customer and the
depositing of the customer's check in the firm's bank account; the time required to process customer
payments.

Corporate tax view

The argument that double (corporate and individual) taxation of equity returns makes
debt a cheaper financing method.

Corporate taxable equivalent

rate of return required on a par bond to produce the same after-tax yield to
maturity that the premium or discount bond quoted would.

Country financial risk

The ability of the national economy to generate enough foreign exchange to meet
payments of interest and principal on its foreign debt.

Coupon rate

In bonds, notes or other fixed income securities, the stated percentage rate of interest, usually
paid twice a year.

Covered call writing strategy

A strategy that involves writing a call option on securities that the investor
owns in his or her portfolio. See covered or hedge option strategies.

Covered or hedge option strategies

Strategies that involve a position in an option as well as a position in the
underlying stock, designed so that one position will help offset any unfavorable price movement in the other,
including covered call writing and protective put buying. Related: naked strategies

Crediting rate

The interest rate offered on an investment type insurance policy.

Cross rates

The exchange rate between two currencies expressed as the ratio of two foreign exchange rates
that are both expressed in terms of a third currency.

Crossover rate

The return at which two alternative projects have the same net present value.

Cumulative preferred stock

Preferred stock whose dividends accrue, should the issuer not make timely
dividend payments. Related: non-cumulative preferred stock.

Current rate method

Under this currency translation method, all foreign currency balance-sheet and income
statement items are translated at the current exchange rate.

Dedication strategy

refers to multi-period cash flow matching.

Delivery price

The price fixed by the Clearing house at which deliveries on futures are in invoiced; also the
price at which the futures contract is settled When deliveries are made.

Delta

Also called the hedge ratio, the ratio of the change in price of a call option to the change in price of the
underlying stock.

Delta hedge

A dynamic hedging strategy using options with continuous adjustment of the number of options
used, as a function of the delta of the option.

Delta neutral

The value of the portfolio is not affected by changes in the value of the asset on which the
options are written.

Derivative instruments

Contracts such as options and futures whose price is derived from the price of the
underlying financial asset.

Derivative markets

Markets for derivative instruments.

Derivative security

A financial security, such as an option, or future, whose value is derived in part from the
value and characteristics of another security, the underlying security.

Devaluation A decrease in the spot price of the currency

Dirty price

Bond price including accrued interest, i.e., the price paid by the bond buyer.

Discount rate

The interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges a bank to borrow funds When a bank is
temporarily short of funds. Collateral is necessary to borrow, and such borrowing is quite limited because the
Fed views it as a privilege to be used to meet short-term liquidity needs, and not a device to increase earnings.

Dividend rate

The fixed or floating rate paid on preferred stock based on par value.

Dollar price of a bond

Percentage of face value at which a bond is quoted.

Dollar-weighted rate of return

Also called the internal rate of return, the interest rate that will make the
present value of the cash flows from all the subperiods in the evaluation period plus the terminal market value
of the portfolio equal to the initial market value of the portfolio.

Dupont system of financial control

Highlights the fact that return on assets (ROA) can be expressed in terms
of the profit margin and asset turnover.

Effective annual interest rate

An annual measure of the time value of money that fully reflects the effects of
compounding.

Effective call price

The strike price in an optional redemption provision plus the accrued interest to the
redemption date.

Effective rate

A measure of the time value of money that fully reflects the effects of compounding.

Electronic data interchange (EDI)

The exchange of information electronically, directly from one firm's
computer to another firm's computer, in a structured format.

Equilibrium market price of risk

The slope of the capital market line (CML). Since the CML represents the
return offered to compensate for a perceived level of risk, each point on the line is a balanced market
condition, or equilibrium. The slope of the line determines the additional return needed to compensate for a
unit change in risk.

Equilibrium rate of interest

The interest rate that clears the market. Also called the market-clearing interest
rate.

Exchange

The marketplace in which shares, options and futures on stocks, bonds, commodities and indices
are traded. Principal US stock exchanges are: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange
(AMEX) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASDAQ)

The Exchange

A nickname for the New York stock exchange. Also known as the Big Board. More than
2,000 common and preferred stocks are traded. The exchange is the oldest in the United States, founded in
1792, and the largest. It is located on Wall Street in New York City.

Exchange controls

Governmental restrictions on the purchase of foreign currencies by domestic citizens or
on the purchase of the local domestic currency by foreigners.

Exchange of assets

Acquisition of another company by purchase of its assets in exchange for cash or stock.

Exchange of stock

Acquisition of another company by purchase of its stock in exchange for cash or shares.

Exchange offer

An offer by the firm to give one security, such as a bond or preferred stock, in exchange for
another security, such as shares of common stock.

Exchange rate

The price of one country's currency expressed in another country's currency.

Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)

The methodology by which members of the EMS maintain their
currency exchange rates within an agreed upon range with respect to other member countries.

Exchange rate risk

Also called currency risk, the risk of an investment's value changing because of currency
exchange rates.

Exchange risk

The variability of a firm's value that results from unexpected exchange rate changes or the
extent to which the present value of a firm is expected to change as a result of a given currency's appreciation
or depreciation.

Exchangeable Security

security that grants the security holder the right to exchange the security for the
common stock of a firm other than the issuer of the security.

Exercise price

The price at which the underlying future or options contract may be bought or sold.

Fair market price

Amount at which an asset would change hands between two parties, both having
knowledge of the relevant facts. Also referred to as market price.

Fair price

The equilibrium price for futures contracts. Also called the theoretical futures price, which equals
the spot price continuously compounded at the cost of carry rate for some time interval.

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