Letter H Dictionary

haggle: To negotiate or bargain.
haircut: In the context of lending, the difference between the value of a loan and the...
Haitian Gourde: The currency of Haiti. Learn more about the Haitian Gourde and Haiti at GoCurrency.com
half-life: The future date on which half of a mortgage's principal will have been paid off.
hammering the market: The selling of large amounts of a stock by speculators who believe that stock will soon fall.
hang out loan: The balance remaining on a loan when the term ends.
Hang Seng Index: The Hang Seng Index (HSI)is a compilation index of all the leading stocks in...
hard currency: A currency in which investors have confidence, such as that of an economically and politically stable country.
hard dollars: Paying a full-service brokerage for its non-trading services (such as research) with cash. opposite of soft dollars.
hard goods: Products that aren't consumed or quickly disposed of, and can be used for several...
hard landing: When the economy goes directly from a period of expansion to a recession. This...
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976: An antitrust regulation requiring any investor seeking to acquire either a 15%...
hawk: Hawkish refers to a negative (high) inflationary outlook and its effects on...
hawkish: The term refers to the predatory, stern nature of the hawk. In finance, hawkish...
hazard insurance: A type of insurance that covers property damage caused by fire, wind, storms,...
head and shoulders: A technical analysis term referring to a chart formation in which a price exhibits...
head of household: A tax filing status that can be used by a married or unmarried person who maintains...
health insurance: Health Insurance is an insurance policy that pays for all or part of an individual...
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Abbreviated as HIPAA. A law mandating that anyone belonging to a group health...
Health Maintenance Organization: Abbreviated as HMO. A form of health insurance combining a range of coverages...
Heard & Mcdonald Island: The currency of Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Heard Island and...
heavy industry: An industry which is capital- and/or labor-intensive, such as automobile, industrial...
hedge: A hedge is a type of protective investment designed to offset adverse price...
hedge clause: A statement made to free oneself from responsibility. Also known as disclaimer.
hedge fund: A fund, generally used by wealthy individuals and institutions, which is allowed...
hedge ratio: The change in price of a call option for every one-point move in the price of the underlying security. Also known as delta.
hedge wrapper: An options strategy in which a trader with a long position in the underlying...
hedged tender: The short sale of some portion of the shares in a tender offer to protect against...
heir: An individual who will receive assets upon the death of another (the decedent).
held: Something in one's portfolio or possession.
held at the opening: Having the condition in which a listed equity does not open for trading when...
heterogeneous: When items or entities in a group are different. Opposite of homogeneous.
hiccup: A brief market dip.
hidden asset: Asset not immediately apparent from a balance sheet.
hidden load: A sales charge which an investor pays often without realizing it, such as an...
hidden tax: An indirect tax levied on goods and/or services at some point during the production cycle and paid unknowingly by the consumer.
high: The greatest value that a security or currency hit during a specific period...
high credit: The maximum dollar amount of all loans an individual can have outstanding at...
high yield: The description of investments with high rates of return.
high-flyer: A stock that is trading at an ungenerally high valuation based on traditional...
high-grade bond: A bond with a rating of AAA or AA, the two highest ratings.
high-low index: Moving average of the number of stocks that reach new highs and lows each day,...
high-ratio mortgage: Mortgage whose amount is greater than 80% of the value of the mortgaged property.
high-tech stock: Stock in a technology sector, such as software, semiconductors, networking, or biotechnology.
highly compensated employee: For the purposes of retirement plans, an employee who owns 5% or more of a firm...
highly confident letter: A letter from an investment bank indicating that it is very likely that it will...
highs: Refers to stocks that have reached new 52-week high prices in the current or most recent trading session. opposite of lows.
HIPAA: Abbreviated as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. A law mandating...
historical: Over a specific period of time in the past.
historical cost: An accounting principle requiring all financial statement items to be based on original cost.
historical data: Past information about a firm, used to help forecast the firm's future; for...
historical trading range: The highest and lowest prices a security or commodity has ever traded at.
historical yield: The yield that has been earned by a mutual fund, generally a money market fund, over a period of time.
hit the bid: Situation in which a dealer agrees to sell at the highest price offered (""bid"")...
HKD: The ISO currency code for the Hong Kong Dollar. Learn more about the Hong Kong dollar and Hong Kong at GoCurrency.com
HMO: Abbreviated as Health Maintenance Organization. A form of health insurance combining...
HNL: The ISO currency code for the Honduras Lempira. Learn more about the Honduran lempira and Honduras at GoCurrency.com
hold: Applied to a specific security, hold refers to an analyst' recommendation to...
holdback: A contractual condition in which money is withheld until a specified event occurs.
holder: One who is in possession of something, generally the purchaser and owner.
holder in due course: An individual who acquires a negotiable instrument in good faith.
holder of record: The name of an individual or entity that an issuer carries in its records as...
holding company: A firm that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and...
holding period: The length of time an asset was held (the time between the trade date of the...
holding the market: The activity of placing and/or maintaining buy orders to create price support...
HOLDR: A type of security created by Merrill Lynch and traded on the American Stock...
home equity: The current market value of a home minus the outstanding mortgage balance.
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage: Abbreviated as HECM. An arrangement in which a homeowner borrows against the...
home equity debt: Debt secured by a primary residence or second home to the extent of the excess of fair market value over acquisition debt.
home equity line of credit: A method of borrowing in which a homeowner may borrow against home equity as...
home equity loan: A loan secured by a primary residence or second home to the extent of the excess...
home inspection: An inspection of a prospective home done by a professional, soon after an offer...
Home Loans - Australia: Tracks developments in the number and value of outstanding home loans in Australia...
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: A federal law requiring some financial institutions to disclose certain information...
home run: A stock which has risen dramatically in price in a short period of time.
homeowner's insurance: A type of insurance that combines liability insurance and hazard insurance. Required by most mortgage lenders.
homogeneous: When items or entities in a group are similar. Opposite of heterogeneous.
Honduras Lempira: The currency of Honduras. Learn more about the Honduran lempira and Honduras at GoCurrency.com
Hong Kong Dollar: The currency of Hong Kong. Learn more about the Hong Kong dollar and Hong Kong at GoCurrency.com
Hope credit: An education tax credit designed to reduce education costs in the first two...
horizon: The length of time a sum of money is expected to be invested. Also known as investment horizon or time horizon.
horizontal acquisition: An acquisition by one firm of another firm in the same industry.
horizontal market: A market which meets a given need of a wide variety of industries, rather than...
horizontal merger: Merger of two or more companies with similar product lines.
horizontal price movement: The price movement that remains within a relatively narrow range over an extended...
horizontal spread: An option strategy involving the purchase and sale of put options and call options...
hostile takeover: A takeover which goes against the wishes of the target firm's management and board of directors. opposite of friendly takeover.
hot issue: Stock, often an IPO, which is in great demand.
house: A house has a number of meanings in the financial world. In economics, a house...
house account: Brokerage account created by a brokerage for its own use.
house call: A call from a broker to a customer (called a maintenance margin call) or from...
house maintenance requirement: Level of equity that a brokerage requires on a customer's margin account. Generally higher than the level required by NASD.
house of issue: The investment bank which acted (or will act) as the underwriter for a given securities issue.
house poor: The condition of having very little cash because nearly all of one's net worth is tied up in one's house.
House Price Indexes - Australia: Tracks changes in housing prices in Australia 's eight provincial capital cities:...
house rules: A broker/dealer's set of internal rules describing how customer accounts should...
Household Consumption - Euro-zone: Euro-zone Household Consumption reports the mean expenditure on individual consumption...
housing bond: A bond that is issued to finance a municipal construction project such as housing...
Housing Industry Association New Home Sales - Australia: The number of new dwellings sold in the past month. An increase in home sales...
Housing Market: The housing sector often leads the overall health of the economy. Home sales...
Housing Market Index: An index of several hundred home builders that measures demand for new homes....
Housing Reports By Country: Overview - Housing Reports - At times, housing figures may be the most watched...
housing starts: Gauges the change in the number of new houses beginning construction. Housing...
Housing Starts - Canada: Reflects the rate of growth in housing construction. Housing Starts act as an...
Housing Starts - Japan: The Housing Starts figure reflects the rate of growth in housing construction....
Housing Starts - United States: Gauges the change in the number of new houses built in the United States. Housing...
Housing Starts 3M - France - Euro-zone: The rate of growth in housing construction, usually expressed as a year on year...
HRK: The ISO currency code for the Croatian Kuna. Learn more about the Croatian Kuna and Croatia at GoCurrency.com
HTG: The ISO currency code for the Haiti Gourde. Learn more about the Haitian Gourde and Haiti at GoCurrency.com
HUD: Abbreviated as Department of Housing and Urban Development. Federal agency responsible for encouraging housing development.
HUD-1 statement: A document prepared by a closing agent describing a real estate transaction,...
HUF: The ISO currency code for the Hungarian Forint. Learn more about the Hungarian Forint and Hungary at GoCurrency.com
Hulbert Financial Digest: A rating service for advisory newsletters.
human capital: The set of skills which an employee acquires on the job, through training and...
hung up: Situation in which one or more of an investor's securities have fallen well...
Hungarian Forint: The currency of Hungary. Learn more about the Hungarian Forint and Hungary at GoCurrency.com
hunkering down: The term used by traders to describe the act of aggressively selling off a large position in a stock.
hurdle rate: The required rate of return in a discounted cash flow analysis, above which...
hush money: A payment made to an individual to keep them from disclosing certain information to others. Often illegal.
hybrid annuity: An annuity which combines features of a fixed annuity and a variable annuity.
hybrid REIT: A type of Real Estate Investment Trust that generates income from rent and capital...
hyperinflation: A period of rapid inflation that leaves a country's currency virtually worthless.
hypothecation: The pledging of securities or other assets as collateral to secure a loan, such as a debit balance in a margin account.
hypothecation agreement: A document signed by an individual wanting to open a margin account, in which...