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Securities

Securities Bond Equities Investment Fund Derivatives Structured finance Agency securities

Markets Bond market Stock market Futures market Foreign exchange market Commodity market Spot market Over-the-counter Market (OTC)

Bonds Bonds by coupon Fixed rate bond Floating rate note Zero-coupon bond Inflation-indexed bond Commercial paper Perpetual bond

Bonds by issuer Corporate bond Government bond Municipal bond Pfandbrief Sovereign bonds

Equities (Stocks) Stock Share IPO Short Selling

Investment Funds Mutual fund Index Fund Exchange-traded fund (ETF) Closed-end fund Segregated fund Hedge fund

Structured finance Securitization Asset-backed security Mortgage-backed security Commercial mortgage-backed security Residential mortgage-backed security Tranching Collateralized debt obligation Collateralized fund obligation Collateralized mortgage obligation Credit-linked note Unsecured bond Agency Securities

Derivatives Options Warrants Futures Forwards Swaps Credit Derivatives Hybrid Securities

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In financial markets, a share is a unit of account for various financial instruments including stocks (ordinary or preferential), and investments in limited partnerships, and REITs. The common feature of all these is equity participation (limited in the case of preference shares).

[edit] National variations

[edit] United States

In American English, the plural stocks is widely used instead of shares, in other words to refer to the stock (or perhaps originally stock certificates) of even a single company. Traditionalist demands that the plural stocks be used only when referring to stock of more than one company are rarely heard nowadays.

[edit] Shareholders and dividends

The income received from shares is called a dividend, and a person owning shares is called a shareholder.

[edit] Valuation

Shares are valued according to various principles in different markets, but a basic premise is that a share is worth the price at which a transaction would be likely to occur were the shares to be sold. The liquidity of markets is a major consideration as to whether a share is able to be sold at any given time. An actual sale transaction of shares between buyer and seller is usually considered to provide the best prima-facie market indicator as to the 'true value' of shares at that particular moment.

[edit] Tax treatment

Tax treatment of dividends varies between territories. For instance, in India, dividends are tax free in the hands of the shareholder, but the company paying the dividend has to pay dividend distribution tax at 12.5%. There is also the concept of a deemed dividend, which is not tax free. Further, Indian tax laws include provisions to stop dividend stripping.

[edit] Share certificates

A share entitling to 1/8 of the Stora Kopparberg copper mine from 1288.

Investors were given share certificates as evidence of their ownership of shares but certificates are not always issued nowadays. Instead, the ownership may be recorded electronically by a system such as CREST.

[edit] see also

• Mutual organization

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• MoneyAM.com - Source for UK Equities, Commodities and FX prices charts and reference information.