Glossary

Balance Sheet	A financial statement for a firm showing the company's assets, liabilities, and capital on a given date.
Bear	An individual who believes a stock or the overall market will decline.
Bearer Bond	A bond that has no identification of an owner. The owner of the bond is the entity that holds the bond.
Bear Market	A prolonged period of falling stock prices.
Benchmark	The performance of a predetermined set of securities, used for comparison purposes. Such sets may be based on published indexes or may be customized to suit an investment strategy.
Beneficial Owner	An individual who owns securities regardless of their form of registration. Securities held in a custodian's street name may have an individual as their beneficial owner.
Bid-Ask Spread	The difference between the bid and ask prices.
Bidder	A firm or person that wants to buy a security.
Bid Price	The highest price an investor is willing to pay to purchase a given security.
Bilateral Netting	The process whereby all trades executed on the same day in the same security are netted between two counter parties at the end of the day and one movement of securities and cash is conducted.
Block	A large holding or transaction of stock.
Block Trades	Trading between two brokers or through one broker (in the case of cross execution) for the purpose of buying and selling any security, in one block, whereby the value shall not be less than 200,000JD.
Blowout	The rapid sale of all shares in a new securities offering.
Board of Directors	Individuals elected by the shareholders of a corporation who carry out certain tasks established in the charter.
Bond	Debt certificates issued by corporations or governments for the purpose of borrowing money from the public.
Bond Market	Market for bond trading at the ASE.
Book Entry Securities	Securities that are maintained by computerized records and that have no physical document to represent the security. These securities do not move from holder to holder, but are kept in a central clearinghouse.
Book Value	A company's total assets minus intangible assets and liabilities.
Brady Bond	Bonds issued by developing countries when they restructure their debt, whose principal and interest payments are backed by U.S. Treasury securities. The bonds were named for former U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady.
Broker	An individual or company who handles public orders to buy and sell securities, commodities or other property on the behalf of clients. A commission is charged for this service.
Brokerage Fee	The broker's basic fee for purchasing or selling securities on behalf of another party, usually a percentage of the amount of the transaction.
Bull	An individual who believes a stock or the overall market will rise.
Bull Market	A prolonged period of rising stock prices.
Business Day	A day in which financial markets are open for trading.
Buy	The act of completing a transaction in which an individual takes the title to a security in exchange for cash.
Buyer's Market	Market in which the supply exceeds the demand, creating lower prices. As a result, the buyer can dictate the price and the terms of sale.
Buy In	The transaction between brokers wherein securities are not delivered on time by the broker on the sell side, forcing the buy side broker to obtain shares from other sources.
Buying on Margin	The act of buying securities with credit available through a relationship with a broker, called a margin account.
Buy Order	An order to buy securities.
Bylaws	Rules and practices that govern management of an organization.