Month: June 2020

Value deflation, or shrinkflation, occurs when retailers and service providers cut their costs and sell smaller packages, give out smaller portions, or generally provide less for the same price so as to maintain the same sticker price. Businesses may do this as a way of stealthily raising prices when costs are rising and consumers are particularly price conscious. Economy-wide value deflation is actually a form of price inflation to the extent that it results in lower real consumption at the same price level. Value deflation can lead to an understatement of the rate of inflation and the cost of living if it is not accounted for in the calculation of price indexes. read more

PIIGS is an acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, which were the weakest economies in the eurozone during the European debt crisis. At the time, the acronym’s five countries garnered attention due to their weakened economic output and financial instability, which heightened doubts about the nation’s abilities to pay back bondholders and spurred fears that these nations would default on their debts.

An ad valorem tax is a tax based on the assessed value of an item, such as real estate or personal property. The most common ad valorem taxes are property taxes levied on real estate. However, ad valorem taxes may also extend to a number of tax applications, such as import duty taxes on goods from abroad.

PIIGS is an acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, which were the weakest economies in the eurozone during the European debt crisis. At the time, the acronym’s five countries garnered attention due to their weakened economic output and financial instability, which heightened doubts about the nation’s abilities to pay back bondholders and spurred fears that these nations would default on their debts.

An ad valorem tax is a tax based on the assessed value of an item, such as real estate or personal property. The most common ad valorem taxes are property taxes levied on real estate. However, ad valorem taxes may also extend to a number of tax applications, such as import duty taxes on goods from abroad.

A retirement money market account is a money market account that an individual holds within a retirement account such as an IRA. In a retirement money market account, deposits are placed in low-risk investments such as certificates of deposit (CDs), Treasury bills, and short-term commercial paper.

The demand curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between the price of a good or service and the quantity demanded for a given period of time. In a typical representation, the price will appear on the left vertical axis, the quantity demanded on the horizontal axis.

A new fund offer (NFO) is the first subscription offering for any new fund offered by an investment company. A new fund offer occurs when a fund is launched, allowing the firm to raise capital for purchasing securities. Mutual funds are one of the most common new fund offerings marketed by an investment company. The initial purchasing offer for a new fund varies by the fund’s structuring.

Basis risk is the financial risk that offsetting investments in a hedging strategy will not experience price changes in entirely opposite directions from each other. This imperfect correlation between the two investments creates the potential for excess gains or losses in a hedging strategy, thus adding risk to the position.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a stock exchange located in New York City that is the largest equities-based exchange in the world, based on the total market capitalization of its listed securities. Formerly run as a private organization, the NYSE became a public entity in 2005 following the acquisition of electronic trading exchange Archipelago. In 2007 a merger with Euronext, the largest stock exchange in Europe, led to the creation of NYSE Euronext, which was later acquired by Intercontinental Exchange, the current parent of the New York Stock Exchange. read more