Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Look in the legend.  For Boston Globe, this is called "stock key".
Some of them are:
	u - new high
	d - new low
	wt - warrant
	pf - preferred stock
	vi - bankrupt
	n - new issue in last 52 wks
These conventions may not be the same for every paper.

    Thanks but was does a warrant mean? What does a preferred stock
    indicate? Who is perferred by? Why are there different listings for the
    same company? How do they differ?
    
    Sorry if these are silly questions but I have to start somewhere.
    
    Thanks for your input.
     

    A warrant is essentially a stock option issued by the company.  I.e.
    the company might issue a warrant which gives you the right to buy 1
    share of the company at $40/share up to January 1997.
    
    "Preferred" stock comes in many types, and varies company to company so
    much that it is impossible to give one answer.  In many cases a
    company's preferred stock pays a higher dividend per share, but may not
    entitle one to a vote at a shareholder's meeting.  Sometimes preferred
    stock is "convertible", meaning it can be converted into 'common' stock
    at a certain price.                           

    
    I have a novice question
    
    What does the term "selling short" and a "short position" mean?
    
    My impression (from a conversation I was in) is that a short position
    is when the investor thinks that the company will not do well. 
    
    How does this work?
    
    -Rick

    Normally you buy a stock and hope to sell later at a profit.
    Buying a stock like this is known as holding a "long" position in the
    stock.
    
    It is possible to sell a stock you don't own, hoping to buy it back at
    a lower price later to repay the "loan" of the stock.  If I sold 100
    shares of DEC, even though I don't own any DEC, I'm said to be "short"
    100 shares DEC.
    
    The broker is loaning the shares to me (having probably borrowed them
    from another client...)  The broker will, of course, require additional
    collateral to back up the loan.
    

    
    let me see if I understand this...
    
    The brokerage firm loans me the stock and then sells it.  They give me
    the money.  I then hope (pray?) the stock lowers in price, making the
    loan of the stock cheaper to repay, and any surplus cash is profit.
    
    Does that sound about right?
    
    -Rick   

    re: .6
    
    Almost right.  Actually the broker puts the money in a special area of
    your account; sort of like an escrow account.  It forms the largest
    part of the collateral on the loan of the stock.  As the stock changes
    in value the broker moves money between your 'escrow' account and your
    real account such that the escrow account always contains approximately
    enough money to buy back the stock.  But until you repurchase or
    otherwise provide stock to 'pay off' the loan you can't get at the
    proceeds.

It may be worth noting that if, say for example, the lending institution
needed to "sell" the lent equity - or the customer that they borrowed it 
from wanted to sell, then you would be forced to close your position even
if you are not ready. Highly unlikely given the volumes, but I suppose that 
it could happen.

-Brian

    
    Thank you all for the help so far. 
    
    I have another novice question...
    
    What is a stock option?  
    
    -Rick
    
    p.s.  is there a FAQ somewhere?

    re: .9
    
    Options have been discussed here; a title search should find anything.
    
    Somebody should create a FAQ.

    somebody should tell the rest of us dummies what a FAQ is.
    

re     <<< Note 668.11 by NECSC::BIELSKI "America's Zone Expertise Center" >>>
                                -< wottza FAQ? >-

Frequently
Asked
Questions

    For those of you who really want to study the way stock is traded I
    suggest you pick up Pass Trak Series 7 General Securities
    Representative, 7th. edition - Dearborn Financial Publishing ISBN
    0-79310-534-4. I think it's about $50. Large format paperback.  This is
    the text used by Broker trainees to pass the Series 7 test to get their
    broker's license. Very cut and dry. No political, economic opinion -
    just what happens, the laws etc. about securities.

    RE: .10
    >	Somebody should create a FAQ.
    
    	Why reinvent the wheel?  The USENET's misc.invest.* newsgroups
    	offer FAQ's for general investment and mutual fund topics.
    	These are FAQ's are posted monthly.
    
    	The misc.invest FAQ I have, date Jan 2nd is 60 pages and 3700 lines
    	long and 363 block in size.  Not really appropriate for posting in
    	NOTESs.  I've attached the article which includes the Table of
    	Contents and direction on How To Obtain.
    
    	The misc.invest.funds FAQ is 437 lines long and 53 blocks in size.
    	There is no Table of contents and the only means of obtaining is by
    	extracting from the newsgroup.
    
    	The misc.invest.* news group heirarchy inclued the following
    	newsgroups (at least on my newsreader RYN::)
    
    	 misc.invest
    	 misc.invest.canada
    	 misc.invest.funds
    	 misc.invest.real-estate
    	 misc.invest.stocks
    	 misc.invest.technical

    Article: 61214
From: [email protected] (Christopher Lott)
Subject: misc.invest FAQ on general investment topics (Table of Contents)
Organization: University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 01:02:11 GMT
Lines: 107
 
Archive-name: investment-faq/general/toc
Version: $Id: faq-toc,v 1.12 1994/01/28 16:45:29 lott Exp lott $
Compiler: Christopher Lott, [email protected]
 
This is the table of contents for the general misc.invest FAQ.
 
Articles in this FAQ discusses issues pertaining to money and
investment instruments, specifically stocks, bonds, and things
like options and life insurance.  Subjects more appropriate to
misc.consumers are not included here.  For extensive information
on mutual funds, see the mutual fund FAQ, which is maintained
by [email protected]. 
 
Disclaimers:  Rules, regulations, laws, conditions, rates, and
such information discussed in this FAQ all change quite rapidly. 
Information given here was current at the time of writing but is
almost guaranteed to be out of date by the time you read it. 
Mention of a product does not constitute an endorsement.  Answers
to questions sometimes rely on information given in other answers. 
Readers outside the USA can reach US-800 telephone numbers, for a
charge, using a service such as MCI's Call USA.  All prices are
listed in US dollars unless otherwise specified.
 
Availability of the FAQ:
    via news: 
	posted monthly to misc.invest,misc.answers,news.answers
    via anonymous ftp: 
	host: rtfm.mit.edu
	path: /pub/usenet/news.answers/investment-faq/general/*
    via mail:
	address: [email protected]
	required msg body: send usenet/news.answers/investment-faq/general/*
 
Please send comments and new submissions to the compiler.
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
    Sources for Historical Stock Information
    Beginning Investor's Advice
    Dave Rhodes and Other Chain Letters
    American Depository Receipts (ADR)
    Bankrupt Broker 
    Beta
    Bonds
    Book-to-Bill Ratio
    Books About Investing (especially stocks)
    Bull and Bear Lore
    Buying and Selling Stock Without a Broker
    Computing the Rate of Return on Monthly Investments
    Computing Compound Return
    Discount Brokers
    Dividends on Stock and Mutual Funds
    Dollar Cost and Value Averaging
    Dollar Bill Presidents
    Dramatic Stock Price Increases and Decreases
    Direct Investing and DRIPS
    Future and Present Value of Money
    Getting Rich Quickly
    Charles Givens
    Goodwill
    Hedging
    Investment Associations (AAII and NAIC)
    Initial Public Offering (IPO)
    Investment Jargon
    Life Insurance
    Money-Supply Measures M1, M2, and M3
    Market Makers and Specialists
    NASD Public Disclosure Hotline
    One-Letter Ticker Symbols
    One-Line Wisdom
    Option Symbols
    Options on Stocks
    P/E Ratio
    Pink Sheet Stocks
    Renting vs. Buying a Home
    Retirement Plan - 401(k)
    Round Lots of Shares
    Savings Bonds (from US Treasury)
    SEC Filings available on Internet
    Shorting Stocks
    Stock Basics
    Stock Exchange Phone Numbers
    Stock Index Types
    Stock Index - The Dow
    Stock Indexes - Others
    Stock Splits
    Technical Analysis
    Ticker Tape Terminology
    Treasury Debt Instruments
    Treasury Direct 
    Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA)
    Warrants
    Wash Sale Rule (from U.S. IRS)
    Zero-Coupon Bonds
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Compiler's Acknowledgements:
My sincere thanks to the many submitters for their efforts.  Also thanks to
Jonathan I. Kamens for his guidance on FAQs and his post_faq perl script.
 
Compilation Copyright (c) 1994 by Christopher Lott, [email protected]
-- 
"Christopher Lott / Email: [email protected] / Tel: +49 (631) 205-3334"
"Adresse: FB Informatik - Bau 57 / Universitaet KL / D--67653 Kaiserslautern"