Business Glossary: P

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P Fifth letter of Nasdaq stock symbol specifying issue is the company's first class of preferred shares.

P2P Business slang, usually used in reference to startups or internet startup,refers to "path to profitability.".

PA The two-character ISO 3166 country Code for PANAMA.

PAB The ISO 4217 currency code for the Panama Balboa.

PAC See: Planned amortization class

PAC See: Preauthorized checks

PAD See: Preauthorized electronic debits

P/B See: Price to book ratio

PBGC See: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

PC See: Participation certificates

PE The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PERU.

PEFCO See: Private Export Funding Corporation

PEG Ratio See: Prospective earnings growth ratio

PEN The ISO 4217 currency code for the Peruvian Nuevo Sol.

PERC See: Preferred equity redemption stock

PERLS Principal Exchange-Rated-Linked Securities.

PF The two-character ISO 3166 country code for FRENCH POLYNESIA.

PG The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

PGK The ISO 4217 currency code for the Papua New Guinea Kina.

PH The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PHILIPPINES.

PHP The ISO 4217 currency code for the Philippines Peso.

PHLX See: Philadelphia Stock Exchange

PIBOR See: Paris Interbank Offer Rate

PIK See: Payment-in-kind bond

PK The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PAKISTAN.

PK A suffix that refers to Pink Sheets

PKR The ISO 4217 currency code for the Pakistani Rupee.

PL The two-character ISO 3166 country code for POLAND.

PLC See: Project loan certificate

PLN The ISO 4217 currency code for the Polish Zloty.

PM The two-character ISO 3166 country code for SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON.

PN The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PITCAIRN.

PN See: Project notes

PO See: Principal only

PPP See:Purchasing power parity

PR The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PUERTO RICO.

PRI See:Political risk insurance

PS The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIED.

PT The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PORTUGAL.

PTE The ISO 4217 currency code for the Portugese Escudo.

P/S See: Price to sales

PV See:Present value

PVBP See: Price value of a basis point

PW The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PALAU.

PY The two-character ISO 3166 country code for PARAGUAY.

PYG The ISO 4217 currency code for the Paraguay Guarani.

PAC Bond Stands for Planned Amortization Class bond. A tranche class offered by some CMOs that has a sinking fund schedule and an ability to make principal payments that are not subordinated to other classes.

Pacific Stock Exchange Used for listed equity securities. Regional exchange located in Los Angeles and San Francisco; only U.S. exchange open between 4:00 and 4:30.

Pac-Man strategy Takeover defense strategy in which the prospective acquiree retaliates against the acquirer's tender offer by launching its own tender offer for the other firm.

Package mortgage A mortgage on a house and property in the house.

Paid-in capital Capital received from investors in exchange for stock, but not stock from capital generated from earnings or donated. This account includes capital stock and contributions of stockholders credited to accounts other than capital stock. It would also include surplus resulting from recapitalization.

Paid in surplus See: Paid-in capital

Paid up When all payments that are due have been made.

Paid-up policy A life insurance policy in which all premiums that are due have been paid.

Painting the tape Illegal practice by traders who manipulate the market by buying and selling a security to create the illusion of high trading activity and to attract other traders who may push up the price.

Paired off Used for listed equity securities. Matched buy and sell market orders, usually pertaining to the pre-opening market picture in a stock, or MOC orders (especially relating to futures/options expirations).

Paired shares Stock of two companies under the same management that are sold as one unit with one certificate.

Pairoff A buyback to offset and effectively liquidate a prior sale of securities.

Panic buying or selling Rapid trading of stocks or bonds in high volume in anticipation of sharply rising or falling prices, usually after unexpected news is released.

Paper Money market instruments, commercial paper, and other.

Paper dealer A brokerage firm that buys and sells commercial paper to make a profit.

Paper gain (loss) Unrealized capital gain (loss) on securities held in a portfolio based on a comparison of current market price to original cost.

Par Equal to the nominal or face value of a security. A bond selling at par is worth an amount equivalent to its original issue value or its value upon redemption at maturity-typically $1000/bond. See: Discount, premium.

Par bond A bond trading at its face value.

Par value Also called the maturity value or face value; the amount that an issuer agrees to pay at the maturity date.

Par value of currency The official exchange rate between two countries' currencies.

Parallel bonds Fixed income instruments denominated in the respective currencies of the countries where they are placed.

Parallel loan A process whereby two companies in different countries borrow each other's currency for a specific period of time, and repay the other's currency at an agreed maturity for the purpose of reducing foreign exchange risk. Also referred to as back-to-back loans.

Parallel shift in the yield curve A shift in economic conditions in which the change in the interest rate on all maturities is the same number of basis points. In other words, if the three month T-bill increases 100 basis points (one %), then the 6-month, 1-year, 5-year, 10-year, 20-year, and 30-year rates all increase by 100 basis points as well. Related: Non-parallel shift in the yield curve.

Parameter A model is a combination of variables, such as GDP growth, and coefficients which multiply these variables. The coefficients are often estimated from the data. The coefficients are called parameters.

Parent company A company that controls subsidiaries through its ownership of voting stock, as well as runs its own business.

Paris Bourse National stock market of France.

Paris Interbank Offer Rate (PIBOR) The deposit rate on interbank transactions in the Eurocurrency market quoted in Paris.

Parity For convertibles, level at which a convertible security's market price equals the aggregate value of the underlying common stock; value/worth of the convertible bond considered only as an equity instrument (Conversion ratio times common price). See: Conversion value. For international parity, U.S.$ price of a foreign stock's last sale in an overseas market (Local currency stock price times forex rate times ADR ratio). For listed parity, condition whereby no party has floor priority, and matching thus occurs. For options parity, dollar amount by which an option is in the money. See: Intrinsic value.

Pari passu Refers to the equal ranking of securities.

Parity value Related: Conversion value

Parking Putting money into safe investments such as money market investments while deciding where to invest the money.

Parking violation Often used in risk arbitrage. Illegal holding of stock by a third party, or the financing of such a stock, in which the third party's sole reason for holding the stock is to conceal ownership or control of a raider, thus sidestepping the Williams Act requirements of 5% holding limits. See: Rule 13d.

Part B prospectus See: Statement of Additional Information

Partial Used in the context of general equities. Trade whose size is only part of the total customer indication/order, usually made to avoid a compromise in price and also to get some business instead of losing the customers inquiry/order to a competitor.

Partial compensation Incomplete payment for the delivery of goods to one party by buying back a certain amount of product from the same party.

Partial Vote When only a portion of the total shares in an account is voted. For example, a broker has 1,000 shares and sends out a card to each of four shareholder clients. If only three of the four client cards are returned to the broker, the broker will submit only 3/4ths(750 shares) of the total 1,000 shares to vote. If the fourth card arrives later, an additional vote can be counted.

Participant risk The risk associated with the credit of the participants and possibility of non-performance.

Participant A party of a funding. It usually refers to the lowest rank or smallest level of funding.

"Participate but do not initiate" Used for listed equity securities. "Participate in the side of the market indicated by the order, but do not initiate the interest that causes the trade to take place." This kind of order can cause one to "miss stock" because the broker or investor is at the mercy of the player who does initiate the trade. See: Market order go along, percentage order.

Participating buyer/seller Used for listed equity securities. (1) Customer willing to buy/sell in line with market. (2) Buyer/seller who goes along with another buyer/seller in a percentage order.

Participating convertible preferred stock Preferred stock that can be converted into common stock at the option of the holder. In contrast, to the usual preferred stock, the value of the preferred stock is refunded to the holder. That is, one gets conversion plus the value of the stock.

Participating dividend Dividend received from ownership of participating preferred stock.

Participating fees The portion of total fees in a syndicated credit that go to the participating banks.

Participating GIC A guaranteed investment contract whose policyholder is not guaranteed a crediting rate, but instead receives a return based on the actual experience of the portfolio managed by the life insurance company.

Participating life insurance policies Life insurance that pays dividends to policyholders depending on the company's success as provided by few claims and profitable underwritings and investments.

Participating preferred stock Preferred stock that provides the holder with a specified dividend plus the right to additional earnings under specified conditions.

Participation The amount of loan or bond issue taken directly from another direct lender or underwriter.

Participation certificates (PC) Used in the context of general equities. Investments representing an interest in a pool of funds or in other instruments, such as foreign securities, that allow participation in the rise or fall of a security or group of securities.

Participation loan A large loan made by a group of lenders, that enables a borrower to obtain financing above the legal lending limit of an individual lender.

Partner Business associate who shares equity in a firm.

Partnership Shared ownership among two or more individuals, some of whom may, but do not necessarily, have limited liability with respect to obligations of the group. See: General partnership, limited partnership, and master limited partnership.

Partnership agreement A written agreement among partners detailing the terms and conditions of participation in a business ownership arrangement.

Party in interest An ERISA-specified individual—such as an administrator, officer, fiduciary, trustee, custodian, or counsel—who is prohibited from making certain transactions involving a retirement plan. A trustee, for example, would be prohibited from using an IRA as collateral for a loan.

Pass the book The process of transferring responsibility for a brokerage firm's trading account from one office to another around the world in order to benefit from trading 24 hours a day.

Pass-through coupon rate The interest rate paid on a securitized pool of assets, which is less than the rate paid on the underlying loans by an amount equal to the servicing and guaranteeing fees.

Pass-through rate The net interest rate passed through to investors after deducting servicing, management, and guarantee fees from the gross mortgage coupon.

Pass-through securities A pool of fixed income securities backed by a package of assets (i.e., mortgages) where the holder receives the principal and interest payments. Related: Mortgage pass-through security

Passive Income or loss from business activities in which a person does not materially participate, such as a limited partnership.

Passive Activity Loss (PAL) A loss incurred in participating in passive investing.

Passive bond A bond without any interest yield.

Passive income Income (such as investment income) that does not come from active participation in a business. Specified by the U.S. tax code.

Passive Income Generator (PIG) An investment that favors passive income, such as an income-oriented real estate limited partnership.

Passive investing Putting money into a profitable business opportunity that is deemed passive by the IRS and thus benefits from tax deductions.

Passive investment management Buying a well diversified portfolio to represent a broad-based market index without attempting to search out mispriced securities.

Passive investment strategy See: Passive investment management.

Passive management See: Indexing

Passive portfolio A market index portfolio.

Passive portfolio strategy A strategy that involves minimal expectational input, and instead relies on diversification to match the performance of some market index. A passive strategy assumes that the marketplace will reflect all available information in the price paid for securities, and therefore, does not attempt to fin