Financial markets
Securities
The tecm ‘securities’ refs to stocks, bonds and money
‘marker instruments "hese aze explained in turn below.
Individual investors and financial institutions cam buy
stocks (~ equities) of companies listed on a stock exchange
The term ‘shares’ inchudes both stocks and privately held
stakes in small firms that are not publicly traded. A 'baske¥
of stocks can be picked by a fund manager and put
together into a mutual fund (UK: unit trust). Funds may
snvest im particular countries, or diferent sectors of the
market, or may’'track’ (= exactly follow) a particular index
Fach fund will have an investment objective, normally
either regular income (from shave dividends), or long-term
capital growth {from an increase in the share price}. or 8
balance between the tun
Stocks are bought and sold on 2 stock exchange
Sometimes this is a physical location, like the New York
Stock Exchange on Wall Strer. Other times there i no
location: the NASDAQisan electronic exchange. A stall
selected group of storks can be brought together to make
an index. For example, tho Dow Jones publishing,
‘organization compiles ‘the Dow’ (ar index of 30 large
companies), and Standard and Poor's ~a credit ratings
agency ~ campites dozens of different indices based on.
compeny size or merket sector
ours!
Why do stocks go up and down in price? When is a stock
worth buying? Financial analysts do research on this, using,
three main tools
‘© Analysis of individuat companies: their market position
and performance,
‘© Analysis of the national and global economy.
@ Technet! analysts using charts and internal snarket
statistics (eg volume and momentum) 1 identity future
trends ancl turning points,
‘The bond market is about fen times bigger than the stock
market. Ifa government or large company wants io borrow
a large sun of mores: itfses a bond and receives the
money a8 a loan fom the institution or individual who
buys it (~ the bondhotder). The original amount (= the
principal) is then paid back over a fixed period of time (
the maturity /the term of the lean). And of course the
fbondholder also receives interest f= the coupon), The bond
market is entirely electzonic and does not have any physica!
exchanges
US government bonds include the 30 year T-bord
treasury bond} and the 10 year T-note, while Furopeact
4M Further information wwsinvestopedia.com (> Dictionary and Tutorial) @ hitpsinaneytermscouk © yon inpipe.comlenuity
government bonds include the German bund. These are al
considered to be low-risk. Corporate bonds have two
grades, depending on the risk, ie the evedit rating of the
company: Saler corporate bonds are called ‘investment
grade’, white high-risk bonds (the company right go
bankrupt or detauit ox :ts repayments) are called ‘high
yield betiis"or unk bonds!
Bonds ainlbe traded on the open market —they don’t have
co be held by the original buyer until maturity. fp
particular, Hwir price goes up and down over the term of
Pie loar according to:
Inflation (the interest repaid on a bun is tixedt over its
tere, $0 rising inflation will reduce the bond’ final
value}.
© Currency movements (vonds are issued and then repaid
in one particular currency ~ their value changes as that
currency fluctuates),
A third type of market, used by investors with spare cash
available fora short time period only (under a year), is
called the money market. Iavestors can buy T-bills trom the
US government, ‘certificates of deposit’ from a bank, or
“commercial paper’ forma corapany, These are all short-
terra loans that pay interest
Other markets
The foreign exchange (= foes’ currency) market is bigge
than all the securities markees combined (around $2 tilion
4 day), Here, dealers buy an sell currency pairs such as
EUR/USD (~ euro against the dollar). Players include:
{© Commercial banks (representing both themselves and
client companies).
© Central hanks (epresenting governments yin to
maintain stabi oftheir OWN caseney)
© Pension funds, et
There's a huge emounto! speculation i this market La
currency fluctuates in value, there are all sorts of
Implications for: buying or selling foreign equities and
bonds: international rade; inflation {hesause of paysnents
for imported goods), et. fet of dealing is done to proert
against (= hedge) such se
Finally, there are the commodity markets Here. dealers
trade the future prise of such things as
© Energy: crude oil, natural gas, ete
© Metals: gold, silver, copper, steel, ee
© Soft commodities: coffee, sugars grains (ag com, whea
soybearts}, Huestock (eg cattle, hogs10 FINANCIAL MARKETS
“Types of investor
Private investors
Financial institutions:
Tavestuent banks,
ension funds, mixta! fancy
insurance companies, endowments
US; Dow Jores Industria! Average
Che Bow"? <4P COO, Nasdaq
| arog: FISE CURD, DAX
, Hang Seng CHong, Kong
Funds that hold various,
carefully selected stocks
Types oF Sands \
country fund, of sector fund,
‘or Fund based on company size eq. 6
apanese Smaller Companies Sand,
equity oF bond Geog. a UK corporate bend fans),
specialist Funds Cog. bietechaliogy,
natural resources,
real estate, tracer, etc?
Investuent objectives
current income,
Fictuce capital growth
Strategies
Investing: bany and hold
aaa
Trading: buy and sell
over the shore teen
Growth, profitability, cash flow,
level of debt, ete
Financia’ inaicators: earnings growth,
p7e ratio, market capitalization, ate
Technical analysis
Internal market factors such
(8s volume, Sread?h, monatntins
lysis:
ion.
amare
Chart Patterns: resistance
And Support, trading channels
Barciers to entry Chow oiffiuit st i
For now players to enter the market) ene ery
‘palishaass or bearishess
in the market,
Price elasticity Clo what extent « rise
th pres causes a fall in sales) “The general economy
Bese of substitution Cto what extent
customers can find similar products
From other supers)
‘econcny
Inflation and direction
of interest rates
Grouth and productivity of .
Sapttal raquinteants Consunar contidences milingness of
Market penetration Consumers to Spandl
© tw niestoquide.comvuniversiy. cy @ wiawcinvestorwexrds com > By Subject) @ vows mornings
1 (> LeamiStocks Curl) 45Financial markets: Exercises
10.1. Write these words in the spaces below: bonds,
‘equities, money market instruments, securtties, shares,
stocks. Note that three words are near synonyms.
‘The general term refers ta
(or —
—— i +
10.2 Fill in the missing letters.
1 Instead of investing in te shares of just one company, you
can invest in. am___fund which held a basket of
stocks.
2. Regular income can be provided by tre dh
shares that you
ds of
3. The issuer of a bond pays back the original atau: (= the
Br al) to the bandholder aver a fied penod of
time (= the 1__m of the loan)
4 The most traded bond in the world is the 30.sear US
government Fbond, The letter T’ stands for
tr y
10.3 Make collocations using an item from each box.
Then use the collocations to complete the sentences
below.
capital fired junk sk
bond find growth — management rate
1 A fund that exactly follows the movement of an index
called a___tracker fund.
2. A fund can provide regular income or
3 Abond is a financial instrument where a borrower raises
‘capital and then repays the loan at a
‘of interest over a fixed teem
risk corporate bond can be called 2
‘Hedging’ is a term associated with
= IR means having a second psition in =
‘market, so that if the market moves against your first
position your losses are minimized
10.4 Divide each set of words in italics into two,
according to their meaning.
1 a booming / bear / bull / depressed # falling é rising /
strong I veeak market
2 tw acquire / buy / have / hold / oven / purchase shares
.5 Mate the names of the different stock indices to
their descriptions.
"CAC Dax ow SE iba
1 index of 509 large US companies
2 index of 4.900 US companies, many of them in the
technology area, end some quite small
index of 30 lange, wel Leabyished US companies, chaser!
bby the editowa¥ the all Smet lourval
index of 30 lav
german companies
J 3
5 index of 40 large French corapanvies,
6 index of 700 large LAK companies
10.6 Rank these financial instruments according to
their probable risk: from 1 (low risk, low return, low
volatility) to 4 (high risk. high potential return, high
volatility).
a) an investment-grade corporate bon]
b) a UK goveroment bond [-]
2 fund investing in sagallBintect companies (_]
4) shares in an individual éompany listed on the Dow (eg
General Electric
10.7 Choose which of these investment objectives is
most suitable for the investors described below:
income, growth, income + growth.
1 a highly-paid young pvofessional, without a family, who
‘wants to save long-term for a pension
2. a newly retwed person who mvonts fo supplement thei
pension — a
3 someone m ther fifties who has just received money from
an inheritance — they want 10 save for their pension, but
also want help paying for their children's unnversty fees
10.8 Match these financial institutions with thei
descriptions below: endowment, insurance company,
investment bank, mutual fund. pension fund.
| used by large companies to ssue bonds, buy and sell
currencies, manage thoir portfolio oF shares in other
companies, and adyse on any potential energer ot
acquisition
used to seve money during your working life and then
have an incorme during retirement —_
sed by prizate investors to hold a basket of stocks
4. ged to protect yourself agninst risks (money is paid out if
something bad "appens
5. used to generate an income for non-commercial purpose,
in particular 20 run @ university or provele for charity (the
il ang Melinda Gates Foundation’ has one)10.9 Financial analysts use the terms in the box when
‘trying to value a company and its share price. Match
‘each term to its definition below.
| barrie to entty capital requirements ease of substitvion
market oenatation pre elasticny
1 how sensitive a company’ sales are ta changes ja the price
Of its products
2 how much money is needed te run this type of business
3. whether other companies could offer a siniiar product
4 bow much market share a company fas, and whether it
has strong products in different segments of the market
15 difficultizs that other companies would face if they snes to
compete
10.10 The terms in the box are indicators of a
company’s performance and are listed in financial
publications. Match each one to its definition below.
‘earnings growth ple ratio. dividend yact
‘market capitalization return an equity
1 share price multiplied by total number of issued shares
learnings par share, compounced over several years
3 how much profit is generated in telation to the money
shareholders have invested
current share price compared to its earnings per share
5 the annual dividends per share divided by the share price
10.11 Which terms from the box in exercise 10.10 are
probably being referred to in these comments:
1 ‘the company is the boggest in its industry”
2 ‘corared to its competitors, the shares are cheap’
2-5 areal growth stack ~ revenues are up year on year"
4. Its not @ growth stock, but you'l get a steady income
‘rom the shares
5 Sa profitable company
1 Financial advice s garbage. f anyone knew haw to beat
the market they'd be sitting on a beacn drinking pina