Year to Date (YTD):

The period beginning January 1st of the current year up until today’s date.

Yield:

1. In general, yield is the annual rate of return for any investment and is expressed as a percentage.

2. With stocks, yield can refer to the rate of income generated from a stock in the form of regular dividends. This is often represented in percentage form, calculated as the annual dividend payments divided by the stock’s current share price.

3. With bonds, yield is the effective rate of interest paid on a bond, calculated by the coupon rate divided by the bond’s market price:

Bond Yield = (Coupon Rate) / (Current Market Price of Bond)

Yield Curve:

A line that plots the interest rates, at a set point in time, of bonds having equal credit quality, but differing maturity dates. The most frequently reported yield curve compares the three-month, two-year, five-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury debt. This yield curve is used as a benchmark for other debt in the market, such as mortgage rates or bank lending rates. The curve is also used to predict changes in economic output and growth.

Yo-Yo:

Slang for a very volatile market.