Month: August 2020

A recession is a macroeconomic term that refers to a significant decline in general economic activity in a designated region. It had been typically recognized as two consecutive quarters of economic decline, as reflected by GDP in conjunction with monthly indicators such as a rise in unemployment. However, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which officially declares recessions, says the two consecutive quarters of decline in real GDP are not how it is defined anymore. The NBER defines a recession as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. read more

A return, also known as a financial return, in its simplest terms, is the money made or lost on an investment over some period of time.

The supply curve is a graphic representation of the correlation between the cost of a good or service and the quantity supplied for a given period. In a typical illustration, the price will appear on the left vertical axis, while the quantity supplied will appear on the horizontal axis.

Theta is a measure of the rate of decline in the value of an option due to the passage of time. It can also be referred to as an option’s time decay. If everything is held constant, the option loses value as time moves closer to the maturity of the option. Theta is generally expressed as a negative number and can be thought of as the amount by which an option’s value will decline every day.

The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most diverse business organization in the world. The ICC has hundreds of thousands of member companies from more than 100 countries and broad business interests. The ICC’s vast networks of committees and experts belong to all sectors and keep members fully informed of all issues that affect their industries. They also maintain contact with the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and other intergovernmental agencies.

M2 is a calculation of the money supply that includes all elements of M1 as well as near money. M1 includes cash and checking deposits, while near money refers to savings deposits, money market securities, mutual funds, and other time deposits. These assets are less liquid than M1 and not as suitable as exchange mediums, but they can be quickly converted into cash or checking deposits.

Delta hedging is an options trading strategy that aims to reduce, or hedge, the directional risk associated with price movements in the underlying asset. The approach uses options to offset the risk to either a single other option holding or an entire portfolio of holdings. The investor tries to reach a delta neutral state and not have a directional bias on the hedge.

A bull market is the condition of a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. The term bull market is most often used to refer to the stock market but can be applied to anything that is traded, such as bonds, real estate, currencies and commodities. Because prices of securities rise and fall essentially continuously during trading, the term bull market is typically reserved for extended periods in which a large portion of security prices are rising. Bull markets tend to last for months or even years. read more

Trade sanctions are laws passed to restrict or abolish trade with certain countries.

The term open appears in several usages in the financial markets. However, there are two that hold particular significance, depending on the context in which they are used.