With the increase in trading by institutional investors, trading arrangements more suitable to these investors were developed. Institutional needs included trading in large size and trading groups of stocks, both at a low commission and with low market impact. This has resulted in the evolution of special arrangements for the execution of certain types of [...]
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Common versus Preferred Stock
Officially, there are two kinds of stocks: common and preferred. A company initially sells common stock to investors who intend to make money by purchasing the shares at a lower price and selling them at a higher price. This profit is referred to as capital gains. However, if the company falters, the price of the [...]
Stocks
Those of you just starting in the field of investment have most likely heard about one popular financial instrument: the stock. In fact, thousands of stocks are traded on the U.S. stock exchanges every day. But what exactly is a stock? Basically, a stock is a unit of ownership in a company. The value of [...]
Margin Transactions
Investors can borrow cash to buy securities and use the securities them- selves as collateral. A transaction in which an investor borrows to buy shares using the shares themselves as collateral is called buying on mar- gin. By borrowing funds, an investor creates financial leverage. The funds borrowed to buy the additional stock will be [...]
Speculative Flow Reverses — The Local Currency Collapses
Theory The tension between speculative inflows and fundamental outflows continues to increase, causing violent price swings, until such point as those inflows are not sufficient to offset the rising tide of outflows. Like an inventory overhang that seems to appear out of nowhere in the wake of over-investment, the result is a supply–demand imbalance in [...]
Speculators Join the Crowd — The Local Currency Continues to Rally [practice]
From October 2000 through March 2001, Polish bonds roared higher, benefiting from cuts in official policy interest rates in response to clear signs of slowing economic activity within the Polish economy. The dollar–Polish zloty exchange rate, which at one time had been as high as 4.75 extended its downward trend, at one point breaking through [...]
USE OF INTEREST RATE DERIVATIVES
There is now a wide range of interest rate derivatives available in most developed markets. These derivatives provide bank treasuries with tools to change their exposure to shifts in interest rates without having to act to change the composition of the banks’ balance sheet directly. The latter is difficult to achieve quickly and efficiently in [...]
Forward Rate Agreements
A forward rate agreement is a contract, based on a notional principal, between two parties to exchange interest at some defined future date based on the difference between two different benchmark rates. These benchmark rates may be floating, such as an interbank rate, or fixed. It is easiest to explain most of these derivatives using [...]
Fundamental Deterioration — The Local Currency Becomes Volatile [practice]
From March to mid-June 2001, the Polish zloty continued to appreciate, albeit in an increasingly chaotic and volatile manner. Frequent sell offs would be followed by sharp rallies. Asset managers were more and more aware of the degree of slowdown in the national economy. While this should conversely be good news for fixed income investors [...]
Fundamental Deterioration — The Local Currency Becomes Volatile [theory]
Fundamental investors and speculators do not necessarily sit easily together. They have different investment aims and parameters, the first looking for regular investment capital gain or income over time, the latter looking frequently for short, quick moves. Granted, this is a gross exaggeration and generalization, but it gives at least something of a flavour for [...]