Glossary
%b
Indicates where the closing price is within Bollinger bands.
10-K
Annual report required by the SEC each year. Provides a comprehensive overview of a company's state of business. Must be filed within 90 days after fiscal year end. A 10-Q report is filed quarterly.
12B-1 Fees
The percent of a mutual fund's assets used to defray marketing and distribution expenses. The amount of the fee is stated in the fund's prospectus. The SEC has recently proposed that 12b1 fees in excess of 0.25% be classed as a load. A true "no load" fund has neither a sales charge nor 12B-1 fee.
401K Plan
A tax-deferred defined contribution retirement plan offered by an employer.
403B Plan
A tax-deferred annuity retirement plan available to employees of public schools and certain non-profit organizations.
5% Confidence
Before conducting statistical tests, an analyst must select a confidence level that will be used to determine when to accept the null hypothesis. A 5% confidence level indicates that one is not willing to accept the null hypothesis when the average net return calculated from the sample could have occurred in only 5 of 100 samples if the null hypothesis were true.
Abandon
The act of not exercising or selling an option before its expiration.
Abandoned Baby Pattern
A rare candlestick pattern in which an upside gap doji star (where the shadows do not touch) is followed by a downside gap black candlestick where the shadows also do not touch; considered a major top reversal signal.
Abandonment
Voluntarily giving up all title, rights or claims to property that rightfully belongs to the owner, such as bonds, mutual funds or stocks held in a brokerage account for which the company is unable to locate the listed owner over a specified time period, usually several years. Other types of property subject to abandonment include: inventions, leases, patents, contracts, copyrights and trademarks.
ABC
Elliott wave terminology for a three-wave countertrend price movement. Wave A is the first price wave against the trend of the market. Wave B is a corrective wave to Wave A. Wave C is the final price move to complete the countertrend price move. Elliott wave followers study A and C waves for price ratios based on numbers from the Fibonacci series.
ABC Inventory Control System
A system of dividing a company's inventory into three inventory systems, A, B and C, according to the contribution of each to the company's overall investment in inventory. This system may facilitate the application of more efficient and effective inventory control techniques.
Ability Pay (Taxation)
The concept that tax rates should vary with levels of income or wealth (i.e., a progressive income tax system).
Ability to Pay (Financial)
A borrower's ability to meet principal and interest payments on long-term obligations out of earnings. Also referred to as ability to service.
Ability to Pay (Industrial Relations)
The ability of an employer to meet a union's financial demands from operating income.
Ability to Pay (Municipal Bonds)
The issuer's current and future ability to generate sufficient tax revenue to meet its contractual obligations, taking into account all factors concerned with municipal income and property values.
