Business Glossary: G
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G
Fifth letter of a Nasdaq stock symbol specifying that the issue is the first convertible bond of the company.
GA The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GABON.
GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
GB The two-character ISO 3166 country code for UNITED KINGDOM.
GBP Pound Sterling currency
GBP The ISO 4217 currency code for the United Kingdom Pound.
GD The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GRENADA.
GDP See: Gross Domestic Product
GE The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GEORGIA.
GF The two-character ISO 3166 country code for FRENCH GUIANA.
GH The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GHANA.
GI The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GIBRALTAR.
GIC See: Guaranteed Investment Contract
GL The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GREENLAND.
GNP See: Gross National Product
GM The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GAMBIA.
GMC See: Guaranteed Mortgage Certificate
GN The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GUINEA.
GP The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GUADELOUPE.
GPM See: Graduated Payment Mortgages
GQ The two-character ISO 3166 country code for EQUATORIAL GUINEA.
GR The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GREECE.
GS The two-character ISO 3166 country code for SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS.
GT The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GUATEMALA.
GTC See: Good 'til cancelled order
GU The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GUAM.
GW The two-character ISO 3166 country code for GUINEA-BISSAU.
GY The two-character ISO 3166 country code for the for GUYANA.
Gadfly A nickname for a "professional" securityholder who owns stock in various companies, attends annual meetings and asks senior management hard and often embarrassing questions.
Gaijin Japanese term used to describe a non-Japanese investor in Japan (outside person). A more polite version of the same word is gaikokujin which means outside country person.
Gain A profit on a securities transaction recognized by selling a security for more than the security originally cost. The gain is the difference between the cost and the sale.
Gamma The ratio of a change in the option delta to a small change in the price of the asset on which the option is written.
Gap Financing that is required, but for which no provision has been made. The difference in total funding needed for a proposal and the amount of funding already made available.
Gap opening In the context of general equities, opening price that is substantially higher or lower than the previous day's closing price, usually because of some extraordinarily positive or negative news.
Garage The floor of the NYSE, which is situated on the north side of the main trading floor.
Garbatrage Rising stock prices and increased market activity in an entire sector caused by a psychology change stemming from a major takeover involving two companies in the sector. Speculators feel other takeovers are likely in the sector. See: Rumortrage.
Garman-Kohlhagen option pricing model A model widely used to price foreign currency options.
Gather in the stops A market strategy in which investors sell stocks to drive prices to a level that breaks through stop orders known to exist. Once the price is low enough, the stop orders become market orders and are executed, to create snowballing.
Gaussian A system whose probabilities are well described by the normal distribution, or bell shaped curve.
GDP implicit price deflator An economic technique used to account for inflation by comparing the current-dollar gross domestic product GDP to >constant-dollar GDP as a ratio. The ratio accounts for price changes of goods and services that make up GDP and changes in the composite of GDP.
GEM (growing equity mortgage) Mortgage in which annual increases in monthly payments are used to reduce outstanding principal and to shorten the term of the loan.
General Average Provision in maritime law where all shippers on a given voyage would reimburse the ship line in the event of vessel sinking or catastrophic damage. It also provides for the reimbursement to those shippers whose cargo was thrown overboard in order to save the vessel.
General Average Contribution The amount of money paid by each shipper involved in a General Average.
General account Federal Reserve Board's term for a margin account provided to a customer by a brokerage firm. Governed by Regulation T of the FED.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) A treaty adopted by the United Nations aimed at elimination of international trade barriers between member countries.
General cash offer A public offering made to investors at large.
Generic credit spread Refers to the corporate bond spread for a particular credit rating and expiry. For example, 10-year single A corporates were priced or trading at 130 basis points above Treasuries last night, or said diffrently, 130 is the generic credit spread for 10-year single A corporates.
General ledger Accounting records that show all the financial statement accounts of a business.
General lien An attachment that gives the lender the right to seize the personal property of a borrower who has not fulfilled the obligations of the loan, but prevents the lender from seizing real property.
General loan and collateral agreement The agreement governing the broker-dealer's borrowing against listed securities from a bank for the purpose of carrying on business and making transactions. See: Broker loan rate.
General mortgage A type of obligation that covers all a borrower's mortgageable properties, not just one specific property.
General obligation bonds Municipal securities secured by the issuer's pledge of its full faith, credit, and taxing power.
General Order A penalty imposed on imported goods that are not promptly cleared through customs.
General partner A participant who has unlimited liability for the obligations of a partnership.
General partnership A partnership in which all participants are general partners.
General revenue The sum of taxes, charges, and miscellaneous income taken in at the state and local level while neglecting overlapping revenue which may be erroneously counted twice.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) The overall conventions, rules, and procedures that define accepted accounting practice at a particular time in the U.S.
Generation-skipping transfer or trust A trust in which a principal amount is placed in a trust on the death of person A and is transferred to A's grandchildren when A's children die. The income from the trust goes to the children of person A while they survive.
Generic Describes the characteristics and/or experience of the total universe of a coupon of MBS sector type; that is, in contrast to a specific pool or collateral group, as in a specific CMO issue.
Genetic Algorithms Models that optimize rules by mimicking the Darwinian Law of survival of the fittest. A set of rules are chosen by those that work the best. The weakest are discarded. In addition, two successful rules can be combined (the equivalent to genetic cross-overs) to produce offspring rules. The offspring can replace the parents, or they will be discarded if less successful than the parents. Mutation is also accomplished by randomly changing elements. Mutation and cross-over occur with low probability, as in nature.
Geographic risk Risk that arises when an issuer issues policies concentrated within certain geographic areas, such as the risk of damage from a hurricane or an earthquake.
Geometric mean return Also called the time-weighted rate of return, a measure of the compound rate of growth of the initial portfolio market value during the evaluation period, assuming that all cash distributions are reinvested in the portfolio. It is computed by taking the geometric average of the portfolio subperiod returns.
Gestation repo A reverse repurchase agreement between mortgage firms and securities dealers. Under the agreement, the firm sells federal agency-guaranteed MBS and simultaneously agrees to repurchase them at a future date at a fixed price.
Get hit Go lower in price, when bids in the stock or market are hit, causing those bids to vanish and be replaced by lower ones. Come in. Antithesis of on the take.
Get out Used in the context of general equities. Sell interest ("We could get out big size in Humana.")
Ghosting The illegal practice that one firm drives a stock's price higher or lower, while other conspiring firms follow its lead to influence up the price of the stock.
Gift splitting A technique used to avoid a gift tax in which a large sum of money to be given by two parents to a child is halved and given to the child separately For example, a husband and wife each donate $10,000 to their child rather than one parent donating $20,000.
Gift tax A tax assessed on the giver of a property or asset as a gift. A $10,000 federal gift tax exemption exists per recipient. See: Gift splitting.
Gift inter vivos A piece of property or asset given from one living person to another.
Gilt-edged securities British and Irish government securities. Blue Chip.
Gilts British and Irish government securities. Blue Chip.
Ginnie Mae See: Government National Mortgage Association
Ginnie Mae pass-through A security guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association that is backed by a collection of mortgages, in which the investor receives the interest and principal payments of participating homeowners.
Give up Used for listed equity securities. (1) Term used in a securities transaction involving three brokers, as follows: Broker A, a floor broker, executes a buy order for broker B (a member firm broker who has too much business at the time to execute the order). The broker with whom broker A completes the transaction (the sell-side broker) is broker C. Broker A "gives up" the name of broker B, so that the record shows a transaction between broker B and broker C even though the trade is actually executed between broker A and broker C; (2) distribution of commissions to brokerage houses not participating in a trade. This is a grey area of the law governing reimbursement of a broker for services (e.g., research). See: Directed brokerage.
Glamor stock A popular stock characterized by high earnings growth rate and a price that rise is faster than the market average in a bull market.
Global Depository Receipt A receipt denoting ownership of foreign-based corporation stock shares which are traded in numerous capital markets around the world.
Glass-Steagall Act 1933 legislation prohibiting commercial banks to own, underwrite, or deal in corporate stock and corporate bonds.
Global bonds Bonds designed to qualify for immediate trading in any domestic capital market and in the Euromarket.
Global fund A mutual fund that can invest anywhere in the world, including the U.S.
Globalization Tendency toward a worldwide investment environment, and the integration of national capital markets.
GNMA-I Mortgage-backed securities (M.B.S.) on which registered holders receive separate principal and interest payments on each of their certificates, usually directly from the servicer of the M.B.S. pool. GNMA-I mortgage-backed securities are single-issuer pools.
GNMA-II Mortgage-backed securities (M.B.S.) on which registered holders receive an aggregate principal and interest payment from a central paying agent on all their certificates. Principal and interest payments are disbursed on the 20th day of the month. GNMA-II M.B.S. are backed by multiple-issuer pools or custom pools (one issuer but different interest rates that may vary within one percentage point). Multiple-issuer pools are known as "jumbos." Jumbo pools are generally longer and offer certain mortgages that are more geographically diverse than single-issuer pools. Jumbo pool mortgage interest rates may vary within one percentage point.
GNMA Midget A GNMA pass-through certificate backed by fixed-rate mortgages with a 15-year maturity. GNMA Midget is a dealer term and is not used by GNMA in the formal description of its programs.
Gnomes Freddie Mac's 15-year fixed-rate pass-through securities issued under its cash program.
Go along Used for listed equity securities. Buy or sell at prices that randomly occur on the floor, participating in what trades the specialist and other players will allow.
Go around Describes the N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank's trading desk practice of communicating with primary dealers to establish a market of bids and offers on behalf of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Goal An individual's or institution's financial objective.
Godfather offer An aggressive takeover technique in that the proposed offer of the acquiring company is so large that management of the target company cannot refuse, out of fear of lawsuits or shareholder revolt.
Go-go fund A type of mutual fund in highly aggressive growth stocks. The fund has high levels of risk and potential return.
Go to Used in the context of general equities. Sell insurance ("we've got 50 IBM to go".).
Goes Used in the context of general equities. (1) Trades ("10 IBM goes on at 115 "); see Print; (2) indicates a change in the stock's inside market ("Apple goes 3/4 bid").
Going ahead A broker-dealer trades in a personal account prior to filling the orders of his or her clients. Prohibited by the NASD rules of fair practice.
Going away The type of bond purchased by dealers for immediate resale to investors, as opposed to purchasing bond, to hold for some amount of time, and then reselling it at a future date.
Going-concern value The value of a company to another company or individual in terms of an operating business. The difference between a company's going-concern value and its asset or liquidation value is deemed goodwill and plays a major role in mergers and acquisitions.
Going long The investor's purchase of a security for investment or speculation that the price will rise resulting in a profit once the security is sold. See:: long position. Antithesis of going short.
Going out Used in the context of general equities. Soliciting/advertising over the SS1, NASDSAQ, or Autex.
Going private When publicly owned stock in a firm is replaced with complete equity ownership by a private group. The firm is delisted on stock exchanges and can no longer be purchased in the open markets.
Going public When a private company first offers shares to the public market and investors. See: IPO.
Going short Selling stock that an investor does not own by borrowing shares from a broker. The assumption is that the price will fall. The investor then buys (covers the short) the shares at a lower price than what they were sold for, recognizing the difference as a profit. Antithesis of going long.