Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page

Key Terms

bond returns
sums the periodic interest payments and the change in bond price in a given period and divides by the bond price at the beginning of the period
commercial paper (CP)
a short-term, unsecured security issued by corporations and financial institutions to meet short-term financing needs such as inventory and receivables
debenture
a common type of unsecured bond issued by a corporation
indenture
legal term for a bond contract
inflation
a general increase in prices and a reduction in purchasing power; expected rate is a key component of interest rates
initial public offering (IPO)
the first time a firm offers stock to the public
mortgage bond
bond issued by a corporation using a real asset, such as property or buildings, to guarantee it
municipal bonds (munis)
bonds issued by a local government, territory, or agency; generally used to finance infrastructure projects
negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs)
large CDs issued by financial institutions; redeemable at maturity but can trade prior to maturity in a broad secondary market
primary market
market for new securities
seasoned equity offering (SEO)
a method used by new IPOs to raise capital by offering additional shares of stock to the public
secondary market
market for used securities
shelf registration
part of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 415; allows a company to register with the SEC to issue new shares but allows up to two years before issuing the shares
special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)
a special form of IPO
stock returns
sums the periodic dividend payments plus the change in stock price in a given period divided by the stock price at the beginning of the period
total returns
the sum of all cash flows received from an investment; includes periodic cash flows plus price appreciation or price depreciation
Treasury bills (T-bills)
short-term debt instruments issued by the federal government and maturing in a year or less
Treasury bonds
government debt instruments with maturities of 20 or 30 years
Treasury notes (T-notes)
government debt instruments with maturities of 2, 3, 5, 7, or 10 years
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-finance-2e/pages/1-why-it-matters

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-finance-2e/pages/1-why-it-matters

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Jul 6, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.