Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Definition of Capital Market

The capital market is the market for securities, where companies and the government can raise long-term funds. The capital market includes the stock market and the bond market. Financial regulators, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, oversee the capital markets in their designated countries to ensure that investors are protected against fraud. The capital markets consist of the primary market, where new issues are distributed to investors, and the secondary market, where existing securities are traded

What is Foreign Exchange Market?

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex and related markets currently is over US$ 3 trillion

What is Capital Gain?

In finance, a capital gain is profit that results from the sale or exchange of a capital asset over its purchase price. If the price of the capital asset has declined instead of appreciated, this is called a capital loss. Capital gains occur in both real assets, such as property, as well as financial assets, such as stocks or bonds. For equities, according to each national or state legislation, a large array of fiscal obligations must be respected regarding capital gains, and taxes are charged by the state over the transactions, dividends and capital gains on the stock market. However, these fiscal obligations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because, among other reasons, it could be assumed that taxation is already incorporated into the stock price through the different taxes companies pay to the state, or that tax free stock market operations are useful to boost economic growth

Definition of a Market Maker

A market maker is a firm who quotes both a buy and a sell price in a financial instrument or commodity, hoping to make a profit on the turn or the bid/offer spread.In foreign exchange trading, where most deals are conducted Over-the-Counter and are, therefore, completely virtual, the market maker sells to and buys from its clients. Hence, the client's loss is the market-maker firm's profit and vice versa. Most foreign exchange trading firms are market makers and so are many banks, although not in all currency markets

What is Financial services?

Financial services refers to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies, stock brokerages, and some government sponsored enterprises. As of 2004, the financial services industry represented 20% of the market capitalization of the S&P 500 in the United States.

What is Financial Market?

In economics, a financial market is a mechanism that allows people to easily buy and sell (trade) financial securities (such as stocks and bonds), commodities (such as precious metals or agricultural goods), and other fungible items of value at low transaction costs and at prices that reflect the efficient market hypothesis.Financial markets have evolved significantly over several hundred years and are undergoing constant innovation to improve liquidity

Exchange Rate

In finance, the exchange rate (also known as the foreign-exchange rate, forex rate or FX rate) between two currencies specifies how much one currency is worth in terms of the other. For example an exchange rate of 123 Japanese yen (JPY, ¥) to the United States dollar (USD, $) means that JPY 123 is worth the same as USD 1. The foreign exchange market is one of the largest markets in the world. By some estimates, about 2 trillion USD worth of currency changes hands every day.