投资学 第二章 summary-from invesments

keywords money market / capital markets

Concepts: asked price/ bid price / bid–asked spread Money market: certificate of deposit / commercial paper / banker’s acceptance / Eurodollars / repurchase agreements / federal funds / London Interbank Offered Rate  (LIBOR)

capital markets: Treasury notes / Treasury bonds / municipal bonds / equities / preferred stock /derivative assets / call option / put option / futures contract 

yield to maturity / equivalent taxable yield

preferred stock characteristics : residual claim / limited liability

capital gains / price–earnings ratio

price-weighted average

market-value-weighted index

index funds

contingent claims

exercise (strike) price

1 .  Money market  securities are very short-term debt obligations. They are usually highly marketable and have relatively low credit risk. Their low maturities and low credit risk ensure minimal

capital gains or losses. These securities trade in large denominations, but they may be purchased

indirectly through money market funds.

2. Much of U.S. government borrowing is in the form of  Treasury bonds and notes . These are

coupon-paying bonds usually issued at or near par value. Treasury notes and bonds are similar in

design to coupon-paying corporate bonds.

3.  Municipal bonds  are distinguished largely by their tax-exempt status. Interest payments (but not

capital gains) on these securities are exempt from federal income taxes. The equivalent taxable

yield offered by a municipal bond equals rm/(1- t ), where r mis the municipal yield and t is the

investor’s tax bracket.

4.  Mortgage pass-through securities  are pools of mortgages sold in one package. Owners of passthroughs receive the principal and interest payments made by the borrowers. The originator that issued the mortgage merely services it, simply “passing through” the payments to the purchasers of the mortgage. A federal agency may guarantee the payment of interest and principal on mortgages pooled into these pass-through securities.

5.  Common stock  is an ownership share in a corporation. Each share entitles its owner to one vote

on matters of corporate governance and to a prorated share of the dividends paid to shareholders.

Stock, or equity, owners are the residual claimants on the income earned by the firm.

6.  Preferred stock  usually pays fixed dividends for the life of the firm; it is a perpetuity. A firm’s

failure to pay the dividend due on preferred stock, however, does not precipitate corporate bankruptcy. Instead, unpaid dividends simply cumulate. Newer varieties of preferred stock include convertible and adjustable-rate issues.

7. Many  stock market indexes  measure the performance of the overall market. The Dow Jones

Averages, the oldest and best-known indicators, are price-weighted indexes. Today, many broadbased, market-value-weighted indexes are computed daily. These include the Standard & Poor’s

500 stock index, the NYSE index, the NASDAQ index, the Wilshire 5000 index, and indexes of

many non-U.S. stock markets.

8. A  call option  is a right to purchase an asset at a stipulated exercise price on or before an expiration

date. A  put option  is the right to sell an asset at some exercise price. Calls increase in value while

puts decrease in value as the price of the underlying asset increases.

9. A  futures contract  is an obligation to buy or sell an asset at a stipulated futures price on a maturity

date. The long position, which commits to purchasing, gains if the asset value increases while the

short position, which commits to purchasing, loses.