X

X-efficiency the degree of efficiency maintained by firms under conditions of

imperfect competition.
X-mark signature made by a person in lieu of an actual signature.
XBRL or eXtensible Business Reporting Language a software standard that was
developed to improve the way in which financial data is communicated, making it
easier to compile and share this data.
XD a symbol used to signify that a security is trading ex-dividend.
xenocurrency any currency that is traded in markets outside of its domestic borders.
xetra to an electronic German stock exchange based in Frankfurt.

Y
yacht insurance an insurance policy that provides indemnity liability coverage for a
sailing vessel.
yankee bond a debt obligation issued by a foreign entity, such as a government or
company, which is traded in the United States and denominated in U.S. dollars.
"Yankee market" is a slang term for the stock market in the United States.
year-end bonus a reward paid to an employee at the end of the year.

year-over-year (YOY) a method of evaluating two or more measured events to

compare the results at one period with those of a comparable period on an annualized
basis.

year to date (YTD) the period of time beginning the first day of the current calendar
year or fiscal year up to the current date.

yearly rate of return computed by looking at the value of an investment at the end
of one year and comparing it to the value to the beginning of the year.

yearly renewable term a one-year term life insurance policy, which gives
policyholders a quote for the year the coverage is bought.

years certain annuity a retirement income product that pays the holder a continuous
periodic income, generally monthly, for a specified number of years.
yellow knight a company that was orchestrating a hostile takeover attempt, but then
backs out of it and proposes a merger of equals with the target company instead.

yellow sheets bulletins for bond traders which contain information for corporate
bonds listed on the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

yield a return measure for an investment over a set period of time, expressed as a
percentage.

yield curve a line that plots yields (interest rates) of bonds having equal credit
quality but differing maturity dates.

yield curve risk the risk of experiencing an adverse shift in market interest rates
associated with investing in a fixed income instrument.

yield equivalence the interest rate on a taxable security that would generate a return
equivalent to the return of a tax-exempt security, and vice versa.

yield maintenance a sort of prepayment penalty that allows investors to attain the
same yield as if the borrower made all scheduled interest payments up until the
maturity date.

yield on cost (YOC) a measure of dividend yield calculated by dividing a stock's

current dividend by the price initially paid for that stock.

yield on earning assets a popular financial solvency ratio that compares a financial
institution’s interest income to its earning assets.

yield pickup the additional interest rates an investor receives by selling a lower-
yielding bond and buying a higher-yielding bond.

yield spread the difference between yields on differing debt instruments of varying
maturities, credit ratings, issuer, or risk level, calculated by deducting the yield of
one instrument from the other.

yield tilt index funds a type of fund that invests in stocks or securities that mirrors
the holdings of a market index but contains a higher weighting towards higher-
yielding investments.

yield to call (YTC) a financial term that refers to the return a bondholder receives if
the bond is held until the call date, which occurs sometime before it reaches maturity.
yield to maturity (YTM) the total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held
until it matures.

yield to worst a measure of the lowest possible yield that can be received on a bond
that fully operates within the terms of its contract without defaulting.

yield variance the difference between actual output and standard output of a
production or manufacturing process, based on standard inputs of materials and
labor.

Z
Z-bond, also known as an accrual bond, is often the last bond to mature. It receives
payment, which is the accrual of interest added to the principal, after all other bond
classes.

Z-score a numerical measurement that describes a value's relationship to the mean of

a group of values.

Z-share a class of mutual fund shares that employees of the fund's management
company are allowed to own.

Zacks Investment Research an American company dedicated to the production of

independent research and investment-related content.

Zacks Lifecycle Indices a series of indexes developed by Zacks Investment

Research, Inc., that provide a benchmark for the lifecycle allocation of various target-
date funds, with a different index for each target date.

Zakat an Islamic finance term referring to the obligation that an individual has to
donate a certain proportion of wealth each year to charitable causes.

zero balance account (ZBA) exactly what it sounds like: a checking account in
which a balance of $0 is maintained.

zero balance card a credit card with no outstanding balance.

zero-based budgeting (ZBB) a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be

justified for each new period.
zero basis risk swap (ZEBRA) an interest rate swap agreement between a
municipality and a financial intermediary.

zero-beta portfolio constructed to have zero systematic risk—a beta of zero.

Zero-bound an expansionary monetary policy tool where a central bank lowers

short-term interest rates to zero, if needed, to stimulate the economy.

zero cost collar a form of options collar strategy to protect a trader's losses by
purchasing call and put options that cancel each other out.

zero-cost strategy a trading or business decision that does not entail any additional
expense to execute.

zero-coupon bond a debt security instrument that does not pay interest.

zero-coupon certificate of deposit (CD) a type of CD that does not pay interest
during its term.

zero-coupon convertible a fixed income instrument that combines the features of

a zero-coupon bond with that of a convertible bond.

zero-coupon inflation swap (ZCIS) a type of derivative in which a fixed-rate

payment on a notional amount is exchanged for a payment at the rate of inflation.

zero-coupon mortgage a long-term commercial mortgage that defers all payments

of principal and interest until the maturity of the mortgage.

zero-coupon swap an exchange of cash flows in which the stream of floating

interest-rate payments is made periodically, as it would be in a plain vanilla swap, but
where the stream of fixed-rate payments is made as one lump-sum payment at the
time when the swap reaches maturity, instead of periodically over the life of the
swap.

zero-day attack a software-related attack that exploits a weakness that a vendor or

developer was unaware of.

zero-dividend preferred stock preferred stock that does not pay out a dividend.

zero-floor limit a policy whereby all transactions must be authorized, regardless of

size.
zero-investment portfolio a collection of investments that has a net value of zero
when the portfolio is assembled, and therefore requires an investor to take no equity
stake in the portfolio.

zero layoff policy a form of protection offered to employees, should the company's
business decline as a result of a weakening economy.

zero liability policy a condition in a credit card or debit card agreement that states
that the cardholder is not responsible for unauthorized charges.

zero-lot-line house a piece of residential real estate in which the structure comes up
to, or very near to, the edge of the property line.

zero percent financing an incentive offered by retailers who wish to sell products
that might otherwise be unaffordable to most consumers.

zero plus tick or zero uptick a security trade that is executed at the same price as
the preceding trade but at a higher price than the last trade of a different price.

zero-proof bookkeeping a manual bookkeeping procedure used in accounting in

which posted entries are systematically subtracted from an ending balance to check
for errors.

zero-rated goods products that are exempt from value-added taxation (VAT).

ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment a simple sentiment indicator created out of

the monthly ZEW Financial Market Survey.

zombie bank an insolvent financial institution that is able to continue operating

thanks to explicit or implicit support from the government.

zombie debt a debt that has fallen off your credit report but, for various reasons,
someone is still trying to collect.

zone of resistance the upper range of a stock's price that shows price resistance, with
the lower range being its support levels.