Accounting & Investement Dictionary

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An alphabetical listing of General terms and items.

W   Dico Tools
Fifth letter of a Nasdaq stock symbol indicating that this particular stock is a warrant.


W-type Bottom   Dico Tools
A double bottom pattern in a price history that looks like the letter W. See: Technical analysis.


WACC   Dico Tools
See: Weighted average cost of capital


Wage   Dico Tools
Payment for work, usually as calculated in periods of an hour rather than longer.


Wage Assignment   Dico Tools
A loan agreement provision allowing the lender to deduct payments from an employee's wages in case of default.


Wage-push Inflation   Dico Tools
Inflation caused by skyrocketing wages.


Waiting Period   Dico Tools
Time during which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) studies a firm's registration statement. During this time the firm may distribute a preliminary prospectus.


Waiver Of Premium   Dico Tools
A provision in an insurance policy that allows payment of insurance premiums to be permanently or temporarily stopped in the event the policyholder becomes incapacitated.


Walk Away   Dico Tools
To take and maintain a position in a stock after going to the floor to consummate a trade. Antithesis of trade me out, buy them back.


Wall Street   Dico Tools
Generic term for the securities industry firms that buy, sell, and underwrite securities.


Wall Street Analyst   Dico Tools
Related: Sell-side analyst


Wallflower   Dico Tools
Stock that has fallen out of favor with investors; stock that tends to have a low P/E (price-to-earnings ratio).


Wallpaper   Dico Tools
A security with no monetary value.


Wanted For Cash   Dico Tools
A statement displayed on market tickers indicating that a bidder will pay cash for same-day settlement of a block of a specified security.


Wants   Dico Tools
Desires for economic goods or services, not necessarily accompanied by the power to satisfy them.


War Babies   Dico Tools
Slang term for the stocks and bonds of corporations in the defense industry.


War Chest   Dico Tools
Cash kept aside for a takeover or for defense against a takeover bid.


Warehouse Receipt   Dico Tools
Evidence that a firm owns goods stored in a warehouse.


Warehousing   Dico Tools
The interim holding period from the time of the closing of a loan to its subsequent marketing to capital market investors.


Warrant   Dico Tools
A security entitling the holder to buy a proportionate amount of stock at some specified future date at a specified price, usually one higher than current market price. Warrants are traded as securities whose price reflects the value of the underlying stock. Corporations often bundle warrants with another class of security to enhance the marketability of the other class. Warrants are like call options, but with much longer time spans-sometimes years. And, warrants are offered by corporations, while exchange-traded call options are not issued by firms.


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Warranty   Dico Tools
A guarantee by a seller to a buyer that if a product requires repair or remedy of a problem within a certain period after its purchase, the seller will repair the problem at no cost to the buyer.


Wash   Dico Tools
Gains equal losses.


Wash Sale   Dico Tools
Purchase and sale of a security either simultaneously or within a short period of time, often in order to recognize a tax loss without altering one's position. See: Tax selling.


Wasting Asset   Dico Tools
An asset that has a limited life and thus decreases in value (depreciates) over time. Also applies to consumed assets, such as oil or gas, and termed "depletion."


Watch List   Dico Tools
A list of securities selected for special surveillance by a brokerage, exchange, or regulatory organization; firms on the list are often takeover targets, companies planning to issue new securities, or stocks showing unusual activity.


Watered Stock   Dico Tools
A stock representing ownership in a corporation that is worth less than the actual invested capital, resulting in problems of low liquidity, inadequate return on investment, and low market value.


Weak Dollar   Dico Tools
A depreciated dollar with respect to other currencies, meaning that more dollars are needed to buy a unit of foreign currency. Antithesis of strong dollar.


Weak Market   Dico Tools
A market with few buyers and many sellers and a declining trend in prices.


Weak-form Efficiency   Dico Tools
A pricing theory that the price of a security reflects the past price and trading history of the security. Theory implies that security prices follow a random walk. Related: Semistrong-form efficiency, strong-form efficiency.


Wealth   Dico Tools
Accumulated assets such as money and/or possessions, often as a result of saving and investing.


WEBS   Dico Tools
See: World Equity Benchmark Series


Wedge   Dico Tools
A chart pattern composed of two converging lines connecting peaks and troughs. In the case of falling wedges, the pattern indicates temporary interruptions of upward price rallies. In the case of rising wedges, indicates interruptions of a falling price trend.


Weekend Effect   Dico Tools
The common recurrent low or negative average return from Friday to Monday in the stock market.


Weighted Average Cost Of Capital   Dico Tools
Expected return on a portfolio of all a firm's securities. Used as a hurdle rate for capital investment. Often the weighted average of the cost of equity and the cost of debt The weights are determined by the relative proportions of equity and debt in a firm's capital structure.


Weighted Average Coupon   Dico Tools
The weighted average of the gross interest rates of mortgages underlying a pool as of the pool issue date; the balance of each mortgage is used as the weighting factor.


Weighted Average Life   Dico Tools
See: Average life


Weighted Average Maturity   Dico Tools
The weighted average maturity of an MBS is the weighted average of the remaining terms to maturity of the mortgages underlying the collateral pool at the date issue, using as the weighting factor the balance of each of the mortgages as of the issue date.


Weighted Average Portfolio Yield   Dico Tools
The weighted average of the yield of all the bonds in a portfolio.


Weighted Average Remaining Maturity   Dico Tools
The average remaining term of the mortgages underlying a MBS.


Well-diversified Portfolio   Dico Tools
A portfolio that includes a variety of securities so that the weight of any security is small. The risk of a well-diversified portfolio closely approximates the systematic risk of the overall market, and the unsystematic risk of each security has been diversified out of the portfolio.


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When Distributed   Dico Tools
When issued.


When Issued   Dico Tools
Refers to a transaction made conditionally, because a security, although authorized, has not yet been issued. Treasury securities, new issues of stocks and bonds, stocks that have split, and in-merger situations after the time the proxy has become effective but before completion are all traded on a when-issued basis. With ice.


Whipsawed   Dico Tools
Buying stocks just before prices fall and selling stocks just before prices rise in a volatile market, often as the result of misleading signals.


Whisper Number Or Forecast   Dico Tools
An unofficial earnings estimate of a company given to clients by a security analyst if there is more optimism or pessimism about earnings than shown in the published number. These are often found on the Internet.


Whisper Stock   Dico Tools
A stock rumored to be the target of a takeover bid, drawing speculators who hope to make a profit after the takeover is completed.


Whistle Blower   Dico Tools
A person who has knowledge of fraudulent activities inside a firm or government agency, who is protected from the employer's retribution by federal law.


White Knight   Dico Tools
A friendly potential acquirer sought out by a target firm that is threatened by a less welcome suitor.


White Sheets   Dico Tools
Lists of prices published by the National Quotation Bureau for Market Makers.


White Squire   Dico Tools
White knight who buys less than a majority interest.


White's Rating   Dico Tools
A rating of municipal securities, that uses market factors rather than credit considerations to find appropriate yields.


White-shoe Firm   Dico Tools
Broker-dealer firms that disdain practices such as hostile takeovers.


Whitemail   Dico Tools
Sale of a large amount of stock by a company that is the target of a takeover bid to a friendly party at below-market prices, so that the raider is forced to buy more of highly priced shares to accomplish the takeover.


Whole Life Insurance   Dico Tools
A contract with both insurance and investment components: (1) It pays off a stated amount upon the death of the insured, and (2) it accumulates a cash value that the policyholder can redeem or borrow against.


Whole Loan   Dico Tools
A term that distinguishes an investment representing an original mortgage loan from a loan representing a participation with one or more lenders.


Wholesale Mortgage Banking   Dico Tools
The purchasing of loans originated by others, for the acquisition of the servicing rights.


Wholesaler   Dico Tools
An underwriter or a broker-dealer who trades with other broker-dealers, rather than with the retail investor.


Wholly Owned Subsidiary   Dico Tools
A subsidiary whose parent company owns virtually 100% of its common stock.


Whoops   Dico Tools
A nickname for the Washington Public Power Supply System, which in the 1970s raised billions of dollars through municipal bond offerings, the projects that never materialized. WPPSS defaulted on the payments to bondholders.


WI   Dico Tools
See: When issued


Wi Wi   Dico Tools
Come from when issued. Treasury bills trade on a WI basis between the day they are auctioned and the day settlement is made. Bills traded before they are auctioned are said to be traded Wi wi.


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Wide Opening   Dico Tools
Abnormally wide spread between the bid and asked prices of a security at the opening of a trading session.


Widow-and-orphan Stock   Dico Tools
A stock paying high dividends with a low beta and noncyclical business, that is an extremely safe investment.


Wild Card Option   Dico Tools
The right of the seller of a Treasury bond futures contract to give notice of intent to deliver at or before 8:00 p.m. Chicago time after the closing of the exchange (3:15 p.m. Chicago time) when the futures settlement price has been fixed. Related: Timing option.


Williams Act   Dico Tools
Federal legislation enacted in 1968 (and now constituting Rules 13d and 14d of the Security Exchange Act of 1934) that imposes requirements with respect to public tender offers.


Wilshire Indexes   Dico Tools
Widely followed performance measurement indexes measuring performance of all U.S.-headquartered equity securities with readily available price data, created by Wilshire Associates, Inc.


Windfall Profit   Dico Tools
A sudden unexpected profit uncontrolled by the profiting party.


Window   Dico Tools
A brokerage firm's cashier department, where delivery of securities and settlement of transactions take place.


Window Contract   Dico Tools
A guaranteed investment contract purchased with deposits over some future designated time period (the "window"), usually between 3 and 12 months. All deposits made are guaranteed the same credit rating. Related: Bullet contract.


Window Dressing   Dico Tools
Trading activity near the end of a quarter or fiscal year that is designed to improve the appearance of a portfolio to be presented to clients or shareholders. For example, a portfolio manager may sell losing positions so as to display only positions that have gained in value.


Winner's Curse   Dico Tools
Problem faced by uninformed bidders. For example, in an initial public offering uninformed participants are likely to receive larger allotments of issues that informed participants know are overpriced.


Winnipeg Commodity Exchange   Dico Tools
Canada's only agricultural futures and options exchange, located in Manitoba.


Wire House   Dico Tools
A firm operating a private wire to its own branch offices or to other firms, commission houses, or brokerage houses.


Wire Room   Dico Tools
A department within a brokerage firm that receives customers' orders and transmits the orders to the exchange floor or the firm's trading department.


With Dividend   Dico Tools
Purchase of shares that entitle the buyer to the forthcoming dividend. Related: Ex-dividend.


With Ice   Dico Tools
When issued.


With Rights   Dico Tools
Shares sold accompanied by entitlement the buyer to buy additional shares in the company's rights issue.


Withdrawal Plan   Dico Tools
Agreement that a mutual fund will disburse automatic periodic redemptions to the investor.


Withholding   Dico Tools
Used in the context of securities, the illegal practice of a public offering participant keeping some shares in a private account or with a family member, employee, or dealer to profit from the higher market price of a hot issue.Used in the context of taxes, the withholding by an employer of a certain amount of an employee's income in order to cover the employee's tax liability. Also used to refer to the withholding by corporations and financial institutions of a flat 10% of interest and dividend payments due to security holders.


Withholding Tax   Dico Tools
A tax levied by a country of source on income paid, usually on dividends remitted to the home country of the firm operating in a foreign country.


Without   Dico Tools
Indicates a one-way market if 70 were bid in the market and there was no offer, the quote would be "70 bid without.".


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Without Recourse   Dico Tools
Giving the lender no right to seek payment or seize assets in the event of nonpayment from anyone other than the party specified in the debt contract (such as a special-purpose entity).


Woody   Dico Tools
Slang to describe a market moving strongly upward, as in, "This market has a woody."


Working   Dico Tools
Attempting to complete the remaining part of a trade, by finding either buyers or sellers for the rest.


Working Away   Dico Tools
Transacting with another broker/dealer.


Working Capital   Dico Tools
Defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities (excluding short-term debt). Current assets may or may not include cash and cash equivalents, depending on the company.


Working Capital Management   Dico Tools
The deployment of current assets and current liabilities so as to maximize short-term liquidity.


Working Capital Ratio   Dico Tools
Working capital expressed as a percentage of sales.


Working Control   Dico Tools
Control of a corporation by a shareholder or shareholders having less than 51% voting interest because of the wide dispersion of share ownership.


Working Order   Dico Tools
Standing order in the marketplace, through which a broker bids or offers to fill the order in a series of lots at opportune times in hopes of obtaining the best price.


Workout   Dico Tools
Informal repayment or loan forgivness arrangement between a borrower and creditors.


Workout Market   Dico Tools
Market indicating prices at which it is believed a security can be bought or sold within a reasonable length of time.


Workout Period   Dico Tools
Realignment of a temporarily misaligned yield relationship that sometimes occurs in fixed income markets.


World Bank   Dico Tools
A multilateral development finance agency created by the 1944 Bretton Woods, (New Hampshire) negotiations. It makes loans to developing countries for social overhead capital projects that are guaranteed by the recipient country. See: Internation Bank for Reconstruction and Development.


World Equity Benchmark Series (WEBS)   Dico Tools
The World Equity Benchmark Series are similar to SPDRs. W.E.B.S. trade on the AMEX, and track the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) country indexes. WEBS are available for: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia Free, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.


World Investible Wealth   Dico Tools
The part of world wealth that is traded and is therefore accessible to investors.


World Trade Organization   Dico Tools
A multilateral agency that administers world trade agreements, fosters trade relations among nations, and solves trade disputes among member countries.


Wrap Account   Dico Tools
An investment consulting relationship for management of a client's funds by one or more money managers, that bills all fees and commissions in one comprehensive fee charged quarterly.


Wraparound Annuity   Dico Tools
An investment that allows the annuitant the choice of underlying investments tax-deferred.


Wraparound Mortgage   Dico Tools
A second mortgage that leaves the original mortgage in force. The wraparound mortgage is held by the lending institution as security for the total mortgage debt. The borrower makes payments on both loans to the wraparound lender, which in turn makes payments on the original senior mortgage.


Wrinkle   Dico Tools
A feature of a new product or security intended to entice a buyer.


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Write   Dico Tools
Sell an option. Applies to derivative products.


Write Out   Dico Tools
The procedure used when a specialist makes a trade involving his own inventory, on one hand, and a floor broker's order, on the other. The broker must first complete the trade with the specialist, who then transacts a separate trade with the customer.


Write-down   Dico Tools
Reducing the book value of an asset if its is overstated compared to current market values.


Write-off   Dico Tools
Charging an asset amount to expense or loss, such as through the use of depreciation and amortization of assets.


Writer   Dico Tools
The seller of an option, usually an individual, bank, or company that issues the option and consequently has the obligation to sell the asset (if a call) or to buy the asset (if a put) on which the option is written if the option buyer exercises the option.


Writing Cash-secured Puts   Dico Tools
An option strategy to avoid using a margin account. Instead of depositing margin with a broker, a put writer can deposit a cash balance equal to the option exercise price, and can avoid additional margin calls.


Writing Naked   Dico Tools
See: Naked option


Writing Puts To Acquire Stock   Dico Tools
Selling a put option at an exercise price that would represent a good investment by an option writer who believes a stock's value will fall, so that the writer cannot lose. If the stock price unexpectedly goes up, the option will not be exercised and the writer is at least ahead the amount of the premium received. If the stock loses value, as expected, the option will be exercised, and the writer has the stock at what he had earlier decided was originally a good buy, and he has the premium income in addition.


Written-down Value   Dico Tools
The book value of an asset after allowing for depreciation and amortization.



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