out of the money

(FINANCE) used to refer to an option that has no intrinsic value, given the prevailing spot price. The two obvious examples are the call option and the put option.

*If the strike price of a call option is greater than the current price (or "spot price") of the underlying stock, then there is no point in exercising the option.

*If the strike price of a put option is less than the spot price, then there is no point in exercising the option/

Please note that "having no intrinsic value" IS NOT THE SAME THING as "worthless." An option that is out of the money is not worthless, unless it is about to expire. Assuming there is a lot of time left on the option before it expires, there remains the possibility the spot price of the underlying item could move in a favorable direction, and make the option "in the money."
Buying a call option that is out of the money is a long position; buying a put option that is out of the money is a short position.
by Abu Yahya April 15, 2010
mugGet the out of the moneymug.

hard peg

In economics, a policy in which the authorities insist on some permanent, precise guarantee of the value of the local currency to some other thing: a unit measure of gold, the US dollar, the euro, or the pound. Historically, the US dollar had a hard peg to gold from 1946 to 1971, while other currencies in the developed world had a hard peg to the US dollar. Since 1971, most of the world's money is in floating currency (whose relative value is set by the free market).
Nonetheless, advocates of hard pegs frequently downplay the ... difficulties of establishing greater nominal flexibility in fiscal spending and wages...
by abu yahya June 24, 2008
mugGet the hard pegmug.

spot price

(FINANCE) market price of a traded stock, commodity, currency, or bond at a specific point in time. For example, right now it's 5 April 2010 08:10 (GMT), and the spot price of WTI crude is $85.56/bbl. Spot price is the price at a specified time on a specific market.
The value of a derivative is determined by the relationship of its strike price to its spot price.
by Abu Yahya April 05, 2010
mugGet the spot pricemug.

T-bill

(FINANCE) a bond issued by the US Department of the Treasury. Unlike longer-term bonds, with regular scheduled interest payments, a T-bill is purely discounted. In other words, the lender--the person buying the bond--pays a price lower than the face value of the bond. When the bond matures (after, say, 91 days), then the buyer is paid the face value.

The yield on the T-bill is usually very low; for example, yesterday 13-week T-bill rates were 4.01%. Their price is set at auction.
People usually suppose that the Federal Reserve System sets interest rates, but this only applies to the federal funds rate. The rates on other treasury securities, like T-bills, are set by auction.
by Abu Yahya May 14, 2010
mugGet the T-billmug.

closing bell

Te bell that rings to signal that trading has ended. An actual, literal moment of reckoning, when margin calls must be paid.
When the closing bell rang, he was ruined. All of his reserves were wiped out and he owed $6 million on margin.
by Abu Yahya May 05, 2010
mugGet the closing bellmug.

Conservative Movement

Political movement in the USA that combines numerous conservative or rightwing movements into a surprisingly cohesive whole. The Conservative Movement (CM) successfully established a dominant role in the Republican Party, and nearly all GOP officials are affiliated with it.

Members of the Conservative Movement are known as "movement conservatives."

In the USA, political parties themselves are very weak and nebulous; historically, they are not bound to any particular ideology or constituency. Instead, parties take their ideological guidance from movements, which endorse candidates based on their commitment to the goals of that particular movement. Movements also marshall fundraising and organizing networks, binding candidates to elected officials and to affiliated thinktanks. The CM is distinguished because it captured an entire party, and tied it to an emphatically rightwing ideology.

The three components of the CM are the neoconservatives (neocons), religious right (theocons, "Moral Majority"), and the AEI-affiliated business conservatives (money cons).
More important, conservatives who embraced conspiratorial thinking shared a sufficient set of complaints, assumptions, and common enemies that united them with their more "respectable" cohorts in one movement. They swam in the same ideological waters as the broader conservative movement... and. above all, participated in building one mobilization out of their common grievances against American liberalism.

Lisa McGirr, *Suburban Warriors* (2002)
by Abu Yahya May 29, 2009
mugGet the Conservative Movementmug.

liquidity crisis

(ECONOMICS) An emergency in which a financial or government institution cannot meet its current obligations in an acceptable form of payment. Different from insolvency, which is where that same institution cannot be realistically expected to EVER meet its obligations.

A good example of the difference is a run on a bank, especially in the days before deposit insurance. A perfectly honest, well-run bank could have all of its books in order, and be paying its depositors in legal tender, when suddenly a panic strikes and everyone wants their deposits all at once. This is necessarily impossible, and forces the bank's officers to default on their debts.

Often, the bank could resume operation later when it was established that it held performing assets greater than deposits. More recently, liquidity crises have been a problem suffered by countries facing capital flight
In 1997, several countries in East Asia were stricken with a liquidity crisis. In many cases, such as Malaysia, the panicked response had nothing whatever to do with fundamentals; it was sheer herd mentality.
by Abu Yahya May 05, 2010
mugGet the liquidity crisismug.