United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Formed in 1964 to establish better international trading conditions for developing countries and to help raise their standard of living. It is also a forum for most commodity price stabilisation pacts. See Common Fund.

Term used when a business has not been supplied with enough funds by its owners to support its activities and to provide for any needed expansion.

The financial instrument which is the subject of a derivatives contract.

The situation whereby an issue of debt instruments is not completely bought up by investors in the market. Opposite to Oversubscribed.

A term implying that a security or currency is trading at a price lower than it should be relative to fundamental factors. Opposite to Overvalued.

The act of purchasing a fixed quota of a bond or share issue for resale to the secondary market. The quota may be purchased outright through an underwriting syndicate which shares the resale risk.

An asset which is fully owned, having no lien against it.

Term used where no restriction applies to an owner's losses in a business.

In technical analysis, both an uptrend and a downtrend require a minimum of four points. An uptrend needs a higher low price and a higher high price. A downtrend needs a lower high price and a lower low price.

World trade negotiations which began in 1986 and ended successfully in 1993, held under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. They are due to be ratified by the respective governments during 1994. All aspects of international trade problems have been thrashed out to allow further expansion and liberalisation of world trade as well as encompassing fresh sectors such as trade related investment and financial services. See GATT, World Trade Organisation.

The date on which either the security or cash equivalent is settled on completion of a trade.

Funds used for investment in small companies that are considered to be in their first phase of growth. Funding is provided by private and institutional investors.

The degree to which financial instruments or markets are subject to market fluctuations. Volatility is measured by an annualised Standard Deviation of the underlying. The two most common methods of assessing volatility levels are Historical and Implied Volatility. The volatility level is a main factor influencing option premiums. In the bond markets, volatility refers to modified duration.

Used in technical analysis. This analysis multiplies volume by the relative change in price and takes the cumulative sum of these values. A buy or sell signal is indicated when a divergence between the volume/price trend and prices is followed by a trend break in the volume/price trend.

Voting rights are granted to ordinary shareholders and provide them with the ability to exert control over the management and policies of a company and the right to take part in electing a company's board of directors.

World-wide colloquial name for the New York Stock Exchange that has loosely come to mean securities trading generally in the U.S. Often the NYSE is referred to as Wall Street, literally part of a street intersection where the exchange is located.

The risk a shipper may have to pay an extra insurance premium, as a consequence of war, in despatching a specified consignment.

The process whereby a group of investors independently buy shares in a company but each investor keeps his holding below the official notification threshold. This can be a surreptitious method of mounting a takeover bid. See Acting in Concert.

A type of security that is attached to a bond but that has a separate life and value. A warrant allows the investor to purchase ordinary shares at a fixed price over a period of time (years) or to perpetuity. The price of the shares is usually higher than the market price at the time of issue. A warrant is freely transferable and can be traded separately. See Rights.

A potential friendly acquirer sought out by a company to protect them from a hostile takeover. See Poison Pill, Pac Man Defence.

An unusual profit, normally as the result of a specific, one-off situation. If too large and too widespread in one industrial sector then a government may impose a one-off windfall profit tax.

Animal fibre cover, known as a fleece, on sheep. Woollen yarn is used for tweed fabrics and blankets while worsted - made from a longer fibre - is used for suiting and fine dress fabrics. Wool is renowned for its ability to accept dyes. Major producers are Australia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and New Zealand. India is pre-eminent in production of a more coarse variety known as carpet wool.

Surplus of current assets over current liabilities which provides the net resources with which a company can finance day to day operations.

Set up under Bretton Woods in 1944, the official name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It is the main agency for channelling aid funds, usually medium term, for capital and human resource projects to developing nations. The World Bank can channel private funds and make loans from its own resources. It also raises money by selling bonds on the world capital markets.

New title for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, decided December 1993 and effective January 1995. See GATT, Uruguay Round.

Book-keeping action which at one stroke depreciates an asset out of the balance sheet.

Occurs where a director of a company in liquidation allows the company to continue trading when he was aware that there was no reasonable prospect that the company could avoid insolvent liquidation. In other words, the company was not a going concern.

Percentage return on an investment, usually at an annual rate. A bond's yield may be stated in terms of its return if held to maturity, if held to the call or put date or simply on the basis of the interest the bond pays in comparison to its current market price. See Yield to Maturity (YTM), Yield to Call (YTC), Yield to Put (YTP), Current Yield.

A diagram showing the relationship between yields and maturities for a set of similar securities or interbank deposits. An ascending, positive or normal yield curve slope is characterised by interest rates rising as maturities lengthen. A horizontal or flat slope is characterised by similar yield levels for all maturities. A descending, negative or inverted slope is characterised by interest rates falling as maturities lengthen. Analysis ranges from short term out to about one year and then through to long term, around ten years. See Forward Yield Curve, Zero Coupon Yield Curve.

A bond which pays no coupon but is issued at a deep discount to face value. The difference between the issue and redemption prices creates a hefty capital gain which boosts the yield close to market levels. As it does not pay a coupon, investors do not run the risk of reinvesting interest paid at a lower rate, if interest rates fall during the life of the bond. In the U.S. Treasury securities market the only such zero coupon bond issued is the Treasury bill. However, the absence of longer term fixed income securities without a coupon reinvestment risk led to the creation of a market called Coupon Stripping. See U.S. STRIPS.