Fair Market Value:

The price that a given property or asset would fetch in the marketplace, subject to the following conditions:

1. Prospective buyers and sellers are reasonably knowledgeable about the asset; they are behaving in their own best interests and are free of undue pressure to trade.

2. A reasonable time period is given for the transaction to be completed.

Given these conditions, an asset’s fair market value should represent an accurate valuation or assessment of its worth.

Fakeout:

A term used in technical analysis that refers to a situation in which a trader enters into a position in anticipation of a future transaction signal or price movement, but the signal or movement never develops and the asset moves in the opposite direction.

Federal Funds Rate:

The interest rate at which a depository institution lends immediately available funds (balances at the Federal Reserve) to another depository institution overnight.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC):

The branch of the Federal Reserve Board that determines the direction of monetary policy. The FOMC is composed of the Board of Governors, which has seven members, and five reserve-bank presidents. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York serves continuously, while the presidents of the other reserve banks rotate in their service of one-year terms.

Fiduciary:

1. A person legally appointed and authorized to hold assets in trust for another person. The fiduciary manages the assets for the benefit of the other person rather than for his or her own profit.

2. A loan made on trust rather than against some security or asset.

Financial Risk:

The risk that a company will not have adequate cash flow to meet financial obligations.

Free Market:

A market economy based on supply and demand with little or no government control. A completely free market is an idealized form of a market economy where buyers and sells are allowed to transact freely (i.e. buy/sell/trade) based on a mutual agreement on price without state intervention in the form of taxes, subsidies or regulation.

In financial markets, free market stocks are securities that are widely traded and whose prices are not affected by availability.

In foreign-exchange markets, it is a market where exchange rates are not pegged (by government) and thus rise and fall freely though supply and demand for currency.

Front-End Load:

A commission or sales fee charged at the time of the initial purchase for an investment, usually mutual funds and insurance policies. It is deducted from the investment amount and thus, lowers the size of the investment. For mutual funds, the use of loads is suggested to prevent frequent trading of the fund, which can hurt a fund if it has to hold large cash reserves to meet payouts.

Fundamentals:

Information relating to the economic well-being of a company such as revenue, earnings, assets, liabilities and growth. These factors are used to determine the worth of an investment in fundamental analysis.

Futures:

A financial contract obligating the buyer to purchase an asset (or the seller to sell an asset), such as a physical commodity or a financial instrument, at a predetermined future date and price. Futures contracts detail the quality and quantity of the underlying asset; they are standardized to facilitate trading on a futures exchange. Some futures contracts may call for physical delivery of the asset, while others are settled in cash. The futures markets are characterized by the ability to use very high leverage relative to stock markets.

Futures can be used either to hedge or to speculate on the price movement of the underlying asset. For example, a producer of corn could use futures to lock in a certain price and reduce risk (hedge). On the other hand, anybody could speculate on the price movement of corn by going long or short using futures.