Glossary S

Same Side Order

Where a buy order is being entered, a pending buy order of the same security would be deemed a same side order. Where a sell order is being entered, a pending sell order of the same security would be deemed a same side order.

Scenario Analysis

Examining the likely performance of an investment under a wide range of possible interest rate environments.

Secondary Distribution

Also known as a secondary offering. The redistribution of a block of stock some time after it has been sold by the issuing company. The sale is handled off of the exchange by one or more securities firms at a fixed price related to the market price. The block of stock is usually large, such as might be involved in the settlement of an estate.

Second Mortgage

A mortgage for a property that already has one mortgage. The first mortgage has priority for all rights and claim settlements. A second mortgage is sometimes used to get cash, and can also be used to reduce the size of the down payment required by the first mortgage. Also known as a Piggyback Mortgage.

Secondary Mortgage Market

The open, national market where residential mortgages are bundled, bought and sold to private organizations and investors such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The secondary market enables primary lenders, such as UBS Bank USA, to sell their loans and get funds to make new mortgage loans available to the American public.

Sector Weightings

The breakdown of a mutual fund's holdings in each of the major industry classifications.

Sector Rotator

Investment style emphasizing the analysis of a particular industry or industry groups. See also Yield Curve Sector Analysis.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

A federal agency responsible for the enforcement of laws governing the securities industry.

Security

A general term that applies to most investment types, including stocks, options, bonds, etc.

SEC Yield

"Orders for new issue bonds are grouped according to type, and then are assigned different levels of priority, based on the benefit to the members of the syndicate. (The highest priority order is that which benefits the most number of syndicate members.) Ideally, orders are generally filled in descending levels of priority, and pro rata within each priority group. The priority levels may change from issue to issue, but will be disclosed by the Senior Manager before the Order Period begins. The usual levels of priority-in descending rank-are:

Group Net--The bonds are sold at the public offering price (called 'net price') and the members in the syndicate share in the spread of the trade on a pro rata basis.
Net Designated--The bonds are sold at the net, but the purchaser decides which of the firms in the syndicate will be paid the spread from the trade.
Member Order-The bonds are sold to a member of the syndicate at the net price less the takedown. Only one firm earns the spread from a member order, hence Member Orders have the lowest priority. See also Allocation, Selling Group Member and Senior Manager."

Selling Group Member

Firms which participate in the offering of a new issue of bonds, but which do not share in the risk, nor the fees paid by the issuer to the managers to place the bonds. See also Senior Manager and Co-Manager.

Sell Order

An instruction to liquidate a specified quantity of a specific security at the market price or at another stipulated price.

Senior Manager

The firm which acts on behalf of the co-managers in negotiating with the issuer and making decisions about the distribution of new issue bonds. See also Co-Manager.

Shares Outstanding

The number of authorized shares in a company that are held by investors, including employees and executives of that company. Unissued shares or treasury shares are not included in this figure.

Sharpe

Also Sharpe Ratio. A mutual fund's measure of risk-adjusted performance calculated by dividing the excess return of a portfolio above the risk-free rate by its standard deviation. Higher values are desirable and indicate greater return per unit of risk.

Short and Intermediate Term General Bond Funds

This type of mutual fund seeks income by investing in corporate debt, government debt and preferred securities with an average maturity less than 10 years or an average duration less than 6 years.

Short and Intermediate Term US Government Fund

This type of mutual fund invests a minimum of 65% in securities issued or guaranteed by the Government, its agencies or instrumentalities with maturities under 10 years or an average duration under 6 years.

Short Covering

Buying stock to return stock previously borrowed to make delivery on a short sale.

Short Position

A position in which the investor has sold securities which he/she does not own.

Short Sale

The sale of a security that is not owned by the customer at the time of the trade. The investor who sells short anticipates that the market price of the stock will decline and he/she can subsequently purchase the stock at the lower price and thus make a profit. Short sale transactions require special handling and execution requirements, and are not permitted through Online Trading.

Short Term Bond

Bond with duration of less than 1 year.

Single Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds

Proceeds are used to provide mortgage loans for single family homes. The bonds are secured by the resulting pool of mortgages. SFMR bonds are always subject to extraordinary calls from mortgage prepayments.

Size

The available number of shares for a bid and ask in a quote. For example when the size is 4 x 6, it means there is a 400 share bid and 600 share ask. Size is typically quoted in hundreds.

SLUG's

State and Local Government Securities. Nonmarketable securities issued by the U.S. Treasury to state or local governments for funding the escrow accounts which secure older bonds (which have been Escrowed to Maturity or Pre-Refunded). The interest rate and face amount of SLUG's are tailored at the time of issuance to the needs of the purchaser. SLUG's have the same creditworthiness as open market U.S. Treasury bonds (that is, guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States), but they cannot be resold in the open market. See also Escrowed to Maturity and Pre-Refunded.

Small Cap Funds

This type of mutual fund seeks maximum capital appreciation, by investing primarily in stocks of domestic small companies, as determined by market capitalization. Typically, capitalization under $1 billion are classified as small capitalization companies.

Small/Mid (Medium) Cap

Typically, stocks issued by corporations with a market capitalization of less than $8 billion.

SMM (Single Monthly Mortality)

The percentage of outstanding mortgage loan principal that prepays in one month.

Sort

Enables the user to rank securities in an ascending or descending order, by a specified set of criteria. A sort is commonly performed on the return data of various securities.

S&P Credit Ratings

A designation given by Standard & Poor's to indicate the relative credit quality, or the strength of the ability of an issuer to pay a security's obligation.

S&P 500 Index Funds

A mutual fund that seeks to provide investment results comparable to that of the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Index by investing substantially in the securities of, or characteristically similar to those of, the index.

Speculative Grade Bonds

Bonds with the potential of credit risk developing due to major exposure to adverse events. See also Investment Grade.

Spread

The difference in price between the bid and the ask in a quote.

Standard Deviation

A statistical measure of the month-to-month ups and downs of securities returns. Money-market securities, which have stable asset values, have standard deviations of zero. Volatile, aggressive-growth portfolios can have standard deviations of 6 percent or more.

Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500)

A market-value weighted index of 500 blue-chip stocks, considered to be a benchmark of the overall stock market.

Stock

A security that represents ownership in a company and is issued in shares.

Stock Dividend

A dividend paid in securities rather than in cash.

Stock Split

The division of the outstanding shares of a corporation into a larger number of shares. Since the number of shares outstanding increases, the price per share goes down. The effect is to adjust the trading price.

Stock Symbol (Ticker Symbol)

A letter code that abbreviates the complete corporate name and is used to designate a specific security.

Stock Split

The division of the outstanding shares of a corporation into a larger number of shares. Since the number of shares outstanding increases, the price per share goes down. The effect is to adjust the trading price.

Stop/Limit Order

Similar to a Stop order, a Stop/Limit order combines the attributes of a Limit order with a Stop order. It differs from a Stop order in that once the Stop price has been reached, the order becomes a Limit order, and can only be executed at the specified Limit price or better. See Also: Limit Order.

Stop Order

An order entered at a price below the market, for a sell order, or above the market, for a buy order. When the Stop price is reached, either at or below the market for a sell or at or above the market for a buy, it then becomes a Market order. See Also: Market Order

Strike (or Striking) Price

The fixed price of a put or call option (see definitions of those terms) (or) (2) Dollar value at which the holder of a share option can exercise it.

Street Name

Securities which are registered in the name of a broker dealer for the benefit of a customer.

Stripped Yield

Calculated as the annual dividend of a preferred stock divided by Strip price.

Strip Price

The price of a preferred stock minus the accumulated dividend.

Style Alpha

Alpha is the amount of "extra return" contributed to the mutual fund's total returns through the skill of the manager in selecting individual stocks or bonds, or in making tactical allocations among those asset classes. "Extra return" means the value added by a mutual fund's manager compared to the returns that would have been obtained by investing in index funds in the same proportion as the mutual fund's factors. Negative alphas indicate that a mutual fund under-performed a collection of index funds weighted in proportion to the mutual fund's factors. Alpha is another important factor to consider in the mutual fund selection process. Portfolio managers try to add value through market timing and security selection decisions. The aggregate outcome of these decisions equals the manager's total value added, or alpha.

Style Analysis

Style analysis seeks to explain the reasons a mutual fund performs as it does through statistical analysis of a mutual fund's total returns, and comparisons to multiple asset classes as represented by market indexes.

Style Statistics

Style analysis breaks down mutual fund performance into 14 asset classes. A numerical factor for each class indicates the extent to which the mutual fund's performance can be explained by movements in that particular asset class. These factors are very similar to the concept of beta.

Subj AMT

Bonds with interest that may be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) when a taxpayer has certain tax preference items or deductions. Each individual should consult with his/her tax advisor to determine potential exposure to the AMT.

Subject Offerings

Offerings that is contingent upon availability and/or other criteria, and must be verified before an execution of the order can take place.

Superfloater

A floating-rate CMO tranche whose rate is based on a formulaic relationship to a representative interest rate index.

Super Sinker

A maturity in a bond issue which is redeemed from extraordinary calls before other maturities in an issue. Most often (but not exclusively) used in single family housing issues since they are likely to experience mortgage prepayments (which must be used to call bonds). The rate at which prepayments occur will determine the actual average life of the bond. See also Single Family Mortgage Revenue Bond.