- + A
- Added Value
- The greater value of goods and services produced compared with the value of the goods and services bought. At system level, it is given by total production less intermediate consumption, which is equal to the gross internal product calculated at factor cost.
- Affiliates
- Two companies are defined as affiliates if they are controlled by the same parent company or if one of the two holds an interest (not a majority interest) in the other.
- Agreement
- An arrangement between two or more parties regarding the exchange of services according to defined rules.
- AIAF
- Associazione Italiana Analisti Finanziari, the Italian Financial Analysts’ Association, whose main activity focusses on market analysis and the professionalism of its members.
- ALFA
- The part of the return on a financial instrument that does not depend on market trends.
- Amortisation
- The writing off of the cost of a long-term investment over the entire period of its utilisation. Also defined as amortisation is the repayment of a bond loan by the issuer, observing the timing and the conditions laid down in the regulations for the bond loan issue.
- Analyst
- A person that studies and forecasts the best opportunities for investments in securities.
- ANASF
- Associazione Nazionale dei Promotori Finanziari, the Italian Financial Salesmen Association.
- Annual financial statements
- A document that is published annually by all public limited companies. It is divided into the management report, the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the notes to the financial statements.
- Antitrust legislation
- Laws whose purpose is to prevent situations arising in which industrial monopolies or oligopolies may impair the functioning of the free market.
- Arbitrage
- Typically consists in buying and reselling financial instruments (or others closely related to them), over a short time horizon with the aim of profiting from the difference in price arising from market inefficiency.
- Arbitration
- In an arbitration clause, the parties commit themselves to refer the solution of certain disputes to one or more arbitrators.
- Asset
- Any asset or credit belonging to an economic agent.
- Available balance
- The balance of a current account that is actually available to the customer. It is the sum in the account to which deposits that have not yet been cleared are to be added.
- + B
- Bailout
- An operation carried out by private or public banking institutions to save a private company from bankruptcy by injecting cash, granting soft loans or allowing tax exemptions.
- Balance
- The algebraic sum of the positive and negative components of an account. In banking transactions, it shows the position of an account holder after charges have been deducted.
- Balance sheet
- The part of the financial statements that sets out the assets, liabilities and own resources of a company, generally with reference to the closing date of a financial period.
- Bank of Italy
- The institution responsible for the functioning of the Italian banking system. It belongs to the European Central Bank System, which is regulated by the European Central Bank. Among the functions it performs are issuing currency, supervising the system of payments, acting as State Treasury, advising constitutional bodies and carrying out economic and institutional studies.
- Bank rate
- The rate at which a central bank lends money to other banks.
- Bankruptcy
- The state of insolvency, decreed by a court judgment, of a businessman that can no longer meet his commitments.
- Barrel (bbl, bo)
- Standard unit of volume used to measure petroleum and derivatives. It is equal to 42 US gallons (159 litres) or 35 imperial gallons (Canada, UK).
- Barrels per day
- Unit of measurement for the production rate of an oilfield or well, or plant processing capability, universally adopted by the oil industry. It can be per calendar day or per day of operation. One barrel/day is equal to approx. 50 tonnes/year.
- Benchmark
- The reference point (or basket of reference points) of an investment company or an asset management company. The difference between the return on the investment and the benchmark measures the added value that the manager offers the subscriber (in the case of active management).
- Beta
- The coefficient that measures a security’s exposure to risk that cannot be eliminated by diversification.
- Bioenergy
- Energy deriving from processes that transform organic matter, such as cereal and lignocellulose biomasses, animal dung, food surpluses, municipal waste paper etc.. It is a renewable energy.
- Bond
- A fixed-income security with a term of more than one year issued by private organisations (corporate bonds) or public bodies (public/treasury bonds).
- Bot
- Buoni Ordinari del Tesoro, Italian Treasury bonds, which are short-term (3- to 12-month) public bonds without coupons. The return arises from the difference between their issue price (set at the fortnightly Bank of Italy auctions) and their redemption price.
- Broker
- A person that puts a customer and an insurance company into contact with each other, charging each a fee for his services. Unlike an agent, who acts in the name of and on behalf of one or more companies, a broker acts in his customer’s interests, so that he must seek the most advantageous policy, assisting him in managing and performing the contract. Brokers must be included in a special register kept by the Italian Ministry of Industry.
- Budget deficit
- This arises when the liabilities in the budget exceed the assets.
- Buying group
- A practice whereby a number of investors make group purchases when, for example, the minimum amount required to underwrite an investment is high.
- + C
- Capital
- The combination of economic assets legally and practically available to a business undertaking. In finance, it consists of the money and credit available to a company to meet the risk deriving from the conduct of its business.
- Capital investment plan
- This involves subscribing to an investment fund by paying in the capital to be invested in a single sum.
- Capitalisation
- Obtained by multiplying the number of shares by the share price.
- Cartel
- An arrangement among enterprises belonging to the same business sector that has the purpose of setting certain price terms or procedures, thus creating a market in which competition is distorted.
- Cash
- A combination of banknotes, coins, current account cheques, bank drafts and free current account balances. In accounting, cash is joined together with cash equivalents, namely securities maturing at fewer than three months that can be easily liquidated and whose price can be defined with certainty.
- Cash flow
- Cash flows are the movements of the money involved in a certain financial transaction. For banks, they mainly derive from loans paid out and deposits received, while in financing transactions cash flows are initially those by virtue of which the sum is disbursed and subsequently the instalments of principal and interest that are received as maturity date approaches. In accounts analysis, cash flow is net income plus total amortisations and provisions, if any. The cash flow statement, on the other hand, is the document that shows the movements of cash involved in a specific business activity.
- Central bank
- Cash Flow A public financial institution with a series of functions connected with a state’s monetary policy, among which the issue of currency, the regulation of monetary conditions and of lending activities and the management, to varying degrees of tightness, of its own currency in relation to foreign currencies.
- Certificate of deposit
- A certificate issued by a bank against a deposit by a customer. It is therefore an instrument that represents credit, with a preset maturity date and pre-determined interest.
- Clearing
- The striking out of an item offset by an entry in profit and loss.
- Consob
- Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (the Italian Business and Banking Commission). This is the body that supervises the correct working of financial markets, transparency in trading and market disclosures. It performs its institutional role of the protection of investors also by means of the statutory obligations by which it is bound.
- Consolidated financial statements
- This is a type of accounts document in which a company’s assets, liabilities and net worth are considered together with those of all its subsidiaries. In this way a single cumulative document is created.
- Consortium
- A group of companies that combine to carry out a common business project. For example, banks from different countries may associate in a consortium to carry out financial activities on a global scale.
- Corporate bond
- A bond issued by a private undertaking.
- Corporate finance
- The body of principles, methods and procedures involved in the management of an undertaking’s financial resources.
- Coupon
- Coupons are detachable, progressively numbered tickets attached to shares and bonds. Detaching the coupon on the pre-determined date and presenting it for payment entitles the holder to collect a share dividend or the periodical interest on a bond.
- Covered warrant
- A derivative. Assimilable to options, covered warrants are different in that the banks that issue them are subject to supervision and must operate as market makers.
- Credit risk
- For a creditor, this is the risk of the debtor not meeting the commitments he has assumed. Relatively, a credit risk is that of the debtor not meeting the commitments he has assumed within the proper time, which may entail a liquidity risk for the creditor.
- Currency risk
- The risk incurred by a person that has assets denominated in a currency other than that of his account. This risk manifests itself when the exchange rate falls, decreasing the value of the position when it is calculated in the currency in which the account is denominated.
- Current liabilities
- The loans that a company takes out to meet current operating costs. It includes trade payables, current account overdrafts, etc
- + D
- Ddm
- Dividend Discount Model, a financial model on the basis of which the correct price of a share must be equal to the current value of all future dividends.
- Dealer
- An intermediary that trades on financial markets on his own account (unlike a broker).
- Debt
- A payment obligation on the part of one person with regard to another.
- Deregulation
- The process of reducing legal constraints on the conduct of a certain activity, put in hand in order to obtain greater market efficiency.
- Derivatives
- Financial instruments whose price derives from the price of another instrument, exploiting the financial leverage effect. They have a high risk level and can be used for speculative or hedging transactions. Futures, options, swaps and warrants fall under this category, but also covered warrants and the other products in this family, such as benchmarks, certificates, etc.
- Discount
- For the issue of Government bonds, it is the difference between price and face value. More generally, it is the difference in price between two comparable securities, such as an ordinary share and a savings share.
- Discount bond
- A medium- to long-term bond on which a coupon pays interest at a rate lower than the current rate.
- Discounted cash flow
- The present value of a future cash flow measured by using a preset rate of interest.
- Diversification
- An investment strategy that has the object of reducing the specific risk of a portfolio by purchasing financial instruments that are not related to each other.
- Dividend
- A part of the profits gained by a company that can be distributed to its shareholders in proportion to the number of shares each possesses.
- Dumping
- The practice, considered illegal, of selling domestic products on foreign markets at under cost price in order to obtain a position of competitive advantage.
- + E
- ECB
- The European Central Bank, which has the duty of establishing the monetary policy of the countries belonging to the European Monetary Union (EMU).
- EPS
- Earning Per Share, the profitability indicator of a security, given by the ratio between profits (generally those expected in the current financial period) and the number of shares issued.
- Equity
- Shares or share capital.
- Equity held
- An item on the assets side of a company balance sheet that reports the value of equity held in other undertakings.
- ETF
- Exchange Traded Fund. A basket of shares generally shadowing a stock market index, but listed and tradeable like individual securities. They are passive funds without either a subscription or a management fee; they can even be sold short to gain from any falls in the benchmark. The basket of shares represented by the ETF is deposited with a bank by another bank, called the sponsor, which is the issuer of the product.
- Ethical fund
- An investment company that puts its assets into financial instruments issued by undertakings that comply with certain environment and social policies and foster sustainable development. They were created in Anglo-Saxon countries under the definition of social responsible funds.
- Euribor
- The inter-bank reference rate published daily by the European Banking Federation as the weighted average of the rates of interest at which banks operating in the European Union grant loans. It is used as a parameter for the indexing of variable rate mortgage loans.
- European Commission
- The executive body of the European Union.
- Exposure
- The degree of risk in a loan to a borrower.
- Extraordinary proceeds
- Proceeds not falling under the category of routine operating income.
- + F
- Fee
- The cost charged for the purchase of a financial instrument by a broker or by a distributor. It is often expressed as a percentage of the purchase price. Fees applied to funds may be: subscription, to remunerate the placer; management, to pay for the active management of the fund’s assets; performance, when the return is higher than the benchmark; and exit, to redeem fund quotas.
- Financial market
- This term has numerous meanings. It can be the definition of any single market in which financial instruments are traded, or also all the markets together. In its most restricted meaning, it is the market on which long-term financial instruments are traded, as opposed to the money market.
- Financial planning
- The process of establishing the future financial requirements of an entity and the preparation of all the transactions necessary to meet them. In the personal investment sector, this term may be used to define the planning of an investment programme that is able to meet the future requirements of the person concerned, such as a supplementary pension. In the sphere of banking, on the other hand, it could be the planning of the dynamics of the largest sums held by the bank, such as increasing the employment of capital and deposits and also all the investments necessary to attain the bank’s targets.
- Financial position
- A view of the assets, liabilities and own resources of a specified entity.
- Financial salesman
- A financial salesman is a person who, as an employee, agent or holder of a mandate, practises the profession of financial intermediation. This activity must only be performed on behalf of a single investment company.
- Financial statements
- The document that summarises a company’s structure and management activity. It is divided into three parts: the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the notes to the financial statements. The balance sheet analytically reports assets, liabilities and own resources, while the profit and loss account reports the operating results, derived from the comparison between costs and income during the financial period concerned. The notes to the financial statements summarise the valuation criteria that have been adopted.
- Fixed asset
- A long-term investment made by an undertaking that intends to make use of it in more than one production process.
- Fixed Income
- Financial instruments of the bond type have a fixed income flow from coupons or redeemed capital, because the income does not depend on the issuer’s economic performance.
- Float
- An indicator of the liquidity of a security consisting in the shares that are not stably held by any investor.
- Forward contract
- An agreement to trade an asset at a specified future date.
- Fundamental analysis
- Its aim is to find the fair value of a financial instrument, starting from the analysis of the financial statements of the issuing undertaking. If fair value is higher than market price, this means that the instrument is under-valued and consequently that it is advantageous to buy it.
- Funds
- Generically means the money immediately to hand for use. In the currency markets, it means the price of the Canadian dollar
- + G
- Gross profit
- The item in the financial statements that is the difference between net turnover and production costs.
- Guarantee stocks
- These are debt securities issued by banks or finance companies on behalf of companies that guarantee payment by means of the cash flow resulting from trade receivables or loans of various kinds. The transformation of the receivables into tradeable securities is called securitisation.
- + H
- Half-year report
- A report that adopts the same structure as the annual financial statements, which listed companies are under an obligation to publish.
- Hedge
- A financial transaction that has the purpose of reducing the risk of an investment. It is carried out, for example, by buying a financial instrument with a return that is negatively related to the portfolio that is to be hedged.
- + I
- IMF
- International Monetary Fund.
- Institutional investors
- All companies and bodies that perform investment business in a professional manner.
- Interest rate
- This measures the consideration paid for a loan, and is usually expressed in annual percentage terms.
- Interest rate risk
- The risk incurred by an investment when the market interest rate varies. Changes in the interest rate, in fact, may diminish the return on an investment, or cause variations in the quotations of a bond.
- Investment
- This has numerous meanings. In economic theory it means the sacrifice of consumer decisions in favour of the production of future income. In general, the purchase of economic assets not intended for consumption.
- Investment company
- A financial company that invests funds obtained from investors in securities issued by other companies in the form of their shares or quotas. Investment funds are an example.
- Issue
- A financial transaction carried out by a company or other body consisting in offering its shares (usually at the same time as a capital increase resolution) or its bonds to the investing public.
- Issuer
- Any company, institution or body that issues financial instruments to raise funds on financial markets.
- + L
- Liabilities
- These include trade payables, long-term loans, bond loans, etc.
- Liability management
- The management of an undertaking’s financing. In banks it was initially directed at the functioning of the cashier’s department, but it afterwards became the management of financial and market risks. Related to the management of assets, in fact it allows the pursuit of financial targets to be combined with that of profit targets and the optimisation of the relationship between risk and return.
- Liquidity
- The capacity of a financial instrument to be transformed into money rapidly and at zero cost.
- Listed
- Companies whose shares are listed on an official Stock Exchange are thus described.
- Listed security
- A security that is listed on an officially recognised Stock Exchange, which provides more satisfactory legal protection to the shareholders concerned owing to the control exercised by stock market authorities.
- Loan
- A sum of money that is allowed to be used for a certain period of time, at the end of which it must be repaid to the lender together with the cost of the transaction, usually paid in the form of interest.
- + M
- Managing Director
- The person at the head of the executive structure of an undertaking by virtue of his membership of the Board of Directors, or by virtue of powers delegated to him by that body.
- Market
- The place where the demand for and the supply of one or more goods or services meet, determining their prices.
- Market discipline
- The pressure exerted by the market on an operator’s behaviour and management methods, as opposed to rules imposed by articles of law.
- Market rigging
- An operation prohibited under Law 157/1992, whereby false or tendentious information is disclosed as an artifice to cause rises or falls in share prices.
- Market risk
- This is a non-eliminable risk depending belonging to a certain market.
- Market share
- This is the “space” on a market (in the sense of liquid volumes or number of items) occupied or generated by an undertaking. It is generally expressed as a percentage.
- Market system
- The definition of the system consisting of intermediaries, markets and financial instruments, as well as the dealings that allow money to be transferred from persons with resources to spare (investors) to those with borrowing requirements (companies, public bodies).
- Maturity
- The time at which a loan or a financial instrument ceases to be valid. For a derivative, it is the last day on which the rights deriving from its possession may be exercised.
- Merchant bank
- A merchant bank provides advisory services and carries out extraordinary financial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.
- Merger
- A procedure whereby one or more companies unite their businesses, giving life to a new company (merger in the strict sense of the term), or whereby one company is incorporated into another (merger by incorporation).
- MIB 30
- The index of the 30 most capitalised shares on the Milan Stock Exchange.
- MIBTEL
- The general Milan Stock Exchange share index.
- Minority shareholding
- A shareholding of under 50%, or in any event one that is not sufficient to exert control over a company.
- Monetary policy
- The combination of manoeuvres carried out by the central monetary authorities in order to stabilise prices, favour balanced growth in economic and employment systems and control the balances of trade with other countries. The monetary policy tools are the bank rate, open market transactions and official reserves.
- Money market
- The market on which short-term financial instruments are traded, namely those with a term of under eighteen months.
- + N
- NAFTA
- Stands for the North America Free Trade Agreement, which was signed between the United States and Canada in 1989 and was extended to Mexico in 1994. Its purpose is to reduce trade barriers between the member countries.
- NASDAQ
- National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotation. The first completely electronic market in the world, which lists companies that have a high growth rate but that do not fulfil any of the requirements for listing on traditional markets.
- NAV
- Net Asset Value. The value of the assets in an investment fund, often determined pro rata on the number of units issued by the fund and calculated at the closure of the markets on each day.
- Net income
- Net operating income, given by the difference between total income and total costs.
- Net profit
- Net corporate profits.
- Net variation
- The difference between the current quotation of a security and the closing quotation the day before.
- + O
- Operating income
- The income obtained from the production and trading of goods and services.
- Operating margin
- An indicator of business profitability given by the ratio between operating profit and the value of sales in the financial period considered.
- Operating profit
- The favourable operating result deriving from operations in the company’s main business activity, given by turnover less the total of the production costs of the goods sold.
- Option
- A derivative that gives the right to call or to put a certain financial asset at a set price (the strike price).
- Option right
- The right of the holders of shares or convertible bonds to underwrite newly issued shares or convertible bonds in proportion to the amount of securities they hold.
- Ordinary share
- A financial instrument with a variable return that represents the smallest part of a company’s share capital. It entitles the holder to a proportion of the company’s profits and gives the holder the right to vote in shareholders’ meetings. It may be listed on the Stock Exchange together with preferred stocks and savings shares, which have greater ownership rights as against limitations on their voting rights.
- Overperformance
- The positive difference between the return on an investment and the benchmark. If the difference is negative, the term used is underperformance.
- + P
- Partnership
- A company without legal status in which there are partners with unlimited liability (general partners) and partners whose liability is limited to the proportion of their interest in the partnership (limited partners).
- Performance
- Self-explanatory.
- Performance guarantee
- A personal guarantee issued to a creditor by another party, consisting in the commitment to discharge the obligation assumed by the main debtor in the event of default.
- Periodic payment plan
- This involves subscribing to an investment fund by a series of capital payments diluted over time. The number of investments is generally established when the plan is signed. A periodic payment plan gives the advantage of averaging out the cost of buying units in the fund and thus compensating for financial market fluctuations.
- Portfolio
- The combination of financial instruments or securities in which a fund is invested.
- Preference share
- A share that gives the holder priority in the distribution of profits and repayment of capital in the event of liquidation, but only entitles the holder to vote in extraordinary shareholders’ meetings.
- Pricing
- The sum of the activities involved in valuing a financial instrument.
- Private equity
- The entry into an unlisted company of intermediaries who usually aim to gain a profit by listing the company on the Stock Exchange.
- Prospectus
- A document with features that are laid down by CONSOB prepared by an issuer when it launches a public offer of securities. The prospectus of an investment fund, for shares in an open-ended investment company or for an asset management plan must be prepared by the organisation that proposes the investment and must contain all the information necessary to make it easy for the investor to make a decision.
- Provision
- A liability item in the balance sheet intended to cover losses or certain or specific charges, even if indeterminate in amount or time.
- Public debt
- The total liabilities assumed by public administrations.
- Public limited company
- A company whose capital is represented by shares, which are securities that can be sold and therefore limit their possessors’ liability.
- Purchasing power
- The value of the securities that can be bought through an intermediary, consisting of the cash on deposit in current accounts and the sum that can be realised providing the said securities as a guarantee.
- Put
- An option agreement that entitles the buyer to sell investment assets, not later than a certain preset date, at a pre-determined price. As the underlying instrument the option may have, indifferently, Government securities, shares, currency, raw materials, etc.
- + Q
- Quantitative analysis
- Measures the economic quantities of a financial instrument (capital cost, assets, etc.), also valuing the future cash flow deriving from economic results with the help of mathematical/statistical models.
- Quota
- The term normally used to indicate an undertaking’s participation in a risk assumed in co-insurance and the amount of the participation.
- Quotation
- The price of a financial instrument as recorded by an official Stock Exchange at any given time.
- + R
- Raid
- The purchase of a percentage of the equity of a company that is enough to give control over it, carried out through a public offer to buy or direct negotiations with the more important shareholders; it is also referred to as a takeover.
- Rate
- The absolute or temporal variation in a certain quantity.
- Rating
- In the most frequent sense, this is a synthetic assessment of the capacity of an undertaking to meet its financial commitments. Ratings are published by independent firms such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, and have a substantial influence on the rates of interest at which the companies that are assessed can raise funds on the market.
- Receipt
- The receipt for the payment of the premium.
- Right of first refusal
- The right to first refusal to buy an asset or a right granted to certain persons by law or under a business arrangement. As regards equity in a company, shareholders have the right of first refusal to underwrite newly issued shares in proportion to the number of shares they possess.
- Risk
- Financial risk means all the factors that give rise to uncertainty concerning the value of an investment at a future date.
- Risk management
- The identification of the risk elements in an investment in order to reduce or eliminate them.
- Risk-free
- Risk-free investments are generally considered to be very short-term Government bonds with high ratings, such as Italian Treasury Bonds.
- + S
- Savings share
- A share that is entirely devoid of voting rights but that entitles the holder to priority in the payment of dividends and the repayment of capital in the event of liquidation.
- Sector
- The combination of companies that may be grouped in the same category owing to the type of business they conduct.
- Security
- A generic term meaning a certificate representing a share in capital, in real estate, in a loan or in a related right.
- Settlor
- The person that sells an option.
- Share
- One of the equal parts into which the capital of a public limited company is divided, entitling the holder to a number of administrative and ownership rights.
- Share index
- The numerical representation of the variations in value of a preset security portfolio.
- Shareholder
- A holder of shares.
- Short-term
- Short-term investments have a duration of fewer than eighteen months.
- Short-term debt
- A business loan that must be repaid within one year of the closure of the financial period. Business loans are reported as current liabilities in the financial statements.
- Solvency
- A person’s capacity to meet the financial commitments he has assumed regularly and in full.
- Speculation
- A strategy whereby financial instruments are bought with the aim of obtaining a benefit in the short term.
- Stock Exchange
- The physical premises in which listed securities are traded.
- Subscription
- The participation in any form of investment when it is not possible to buy the participation on the market. A typical example of subscription is that of units in investment funds, which cannot be traded on any market.
- Subsidiary
- An industrial or business company that is under the control of another which holds most of its share capital or which can impose its wishes on it by virtue of special arrangements.
- Supervision
- The action of the bodies, legislation and instruments that ensure the proper functioning and the transparency of financial markets.
- + T
- Tangible fixed assets
- Items in a company’s balance sheet consisting of capital goods intended for use directly in the conduct of its business, typically consisting in land and buildings, equipment and machinery, appliances, furniture and fittings and means of transport.
- Technical analysis
- Forecasts the course of a financial instrument analysing historic price and volume sequences and using numerical graphs and indicators showing market variables.
- Term option
- A clause in an agreement that allows the holder of a life insurance policy to choose an alternative benefit to that envisaged in the policy. When the guaranteed benefit is a capital sum, the alternative is an annuity. When the guaranteed benefit is an annuity, the alternative is a capital sum or an annuity with different characteristics.
- Trade-off
- A situation in which a compromise has to be reached between two equally desirable but conflicting interests.
- Trustee
- A person acting on behalf of another in administering assets. The law requires the trustee to act in all cases to obtain the maximum benefit for the grantor, and to safeguard his interests in all circumstances.
- Turnover
- The sum total, with reference to a certain period, of the income from a company’s sale of its goods and services. It is distinguished between net and gross turnover, as elements such as discounts and returned goods have to be taken into account in its calculation.
- + U
- Unbundling
- After the creation of an entity with a new legal status, this is the transaction whereby a part of the original company’s stock is assigned.
- Underlying
- The security on the price of which a derivative has been constructed. For example, FIB 30 has MIB 30 as its underlying security.
- Underperformance
- The negative difference between the return on an investment and the benchmark; a positive difference is called overperformance.
- Unlisted security
- A share or a bond not listed on an official Stock Exchange.
- + V
- Value
- This designation is applied to undertakings with a lower than average profit growth rate, and thus with a lower P/E ratio than the average.
- + W
- Warrant
- A certificate issued by an undertaking, giving the right to buy the issuer’s shares at a preset time and price; it is a derivative.
- Wealth
- Riches or assets.
- Wind energy
- Kinetic energy of moving air masses. This motion is caused by differences in temperature and pressure in the atmosphere, which are in turn linked to unevenness in the distribution of solar heat. A fraction of this energy is intercepted and converted into electric energy by the wind generator: a modern version of the old windmill.
- + Z
- Zero coupon bond
- A bond without a coupon. The return derives from the difference between issue price and redemption price, which is fixed when the bond is issued.
Last update: 27/05/2013