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Municipal Bond Fund A Mutual Fund that invests in Municipal Bonds and operates either as a unit investment trust or as an open-end fund. The fund’s objective is to maximize federally tax-exempt income.

Municipal Bond Also known as Municipal Security. A debt security issued by a state, a municipality, or other subdivision -- such as a school, park, sanitary, or other local taxing district -- to finance its capital expenditures. Such expenditures might include the construction of highways...

Moving Average A technical analysis term. Expresses the charting of the average prices of a security for a particular period using average daily settlement prices over a defined period of time. For example, charting for thirty days produces a thirty-day moving average.

Money Supply The total stock of bills, coins, loans, credit and other liquid instruments in the economy. It is divided into four categories -- M1, M2, and M3 -- according to the type of account in which the instrument is kept.

Money-Market Fund A Mutual Fund that invests in short-term debt instruments. The fund’s objective is to earn interest while maintaining a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share. Generally sold with no load, the fund may also offer draft-writing privileges and low opening investments.

Money Market The securities market that deals in short-term debt. Money-market instruments are forms of debt that Mature in less than one year and are very Liquid. Treasury bills make up the bulk of the money-market instruments.

Monetary Policy The actions of the Federal Reserve Board that determine the size and rate of growth of the Money Supply, which in turn affect Interest Rates.

Mid-Point A method of calculating sales and EPS growth on a graph. It bases growth on averaged values. For 10 years of data, averages are calculated for the first and last 5 years. Each average determines a point between which an imaginary line is drawn to calculate the growth of the slope. For...

Merger The combination of two or more companies, generally by offering the stockholders of one company securities in the acquiring company in exchange for the surrender of their stock.

Member Firm A broker-dealer in which at least one of the principal officers is a member of the New York Stock Exchange, another exchange, a self-regulatory organization, or a clearing corporation.

Member (1) Of the New York Stock Exchange: one of the 1,366 individuals owning a seat on the Exchange. (2) Of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD): any broker or dealer admitted to membership in the Association.

Maturity Date The date on which a bond’s Principal is repaid to the investor and interest payments cease.

Maturity The length of time until the Principal amount of a bond must be repaid.

Material News News released by a NASDAQ company that might reasonably be expected to affect the value of a company’s securities or influence investors’ decisions. Material news includes information regarding corporate events of an unusual and non*recurring nature, news of tender offers...

Matching Orders Simultaneously entering identical (or nearly identical) buy and sell orders for a security to create the appearance of active trading in that security. This violates the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Markup The difference between the lowest current offering price among dealers and the higher price a dealer charges a customer.

Market Value The price at which investors buy or sell a share of common stock or a bond at a given time. Market value is determined by the interaction between buyers and sellers.

Market Timing An attempt to sell a stock or portfolio when a market is at a high and buying at a low, or an attempt to leave the market entirely during downturns and reinvesting when it heads back up. Requires a crystal ball to be effective, and is generally an exercise in futility.

Market Surveillance The department responsible for investigating and preventing abusive, manipulative, or illegal trading practices on The NASDAQ Stock Market. Considerable resources are devoted to surveilling The NASDAQ Stock Market. A vast array of sophisticated automated systems reviews each...

Market Risk The potential for an investor to experience losses owing to day-to-day fluctuations in the prices at which securities can be bought or sold. The Market Risk expresses the volatility of a stock price relative to the overall market as indicated by beta.