Some analysts and pundits use a stock's price-to-......... ratio to decide whether to recommend an equity: if the ratio is below 1.0, it's often considered attractive, and if the ratio is higher than 1.0, it may be deemed overpriced.

Gold for the year was up about 23% and Silver was up 46%; the HUI failed to provide the leverage it usually offers to metals, increasing by only 13%, but these are still impressive ......... returns, since a record-breaking year for the Dow Jones produced only a 16.7% return and the Nasdaq gained just 10%.

......... is an investment approach that seeks to match the investment returns of a specified stock or bond market benchmark by holding all or a representative sample of those securities; it is a 'passive' investment approach emphasizing broad diversification and low portfolio trading activity.

Despite reports that mining giant Rio Tinto is lining up bankers for a bid for Alcan Inc, an industry observer believes the Canadian aluminum giant may be preparing a '......... earth policy' to make itself less attractive to potential suitors; Alcan's board has rejected Alcoa's US$28.1-billion hostile takeover offer.

With a market ......... order, the investor allows the floor broker to use his own discretion as to the exact timing of the execution; if the broker expects a decline in price, s/he may wait to buy, figuring that a better price will soon be available, but there is no guarantee that a such an order will be filled.

......... arbitrage is basically buying and simultaneously selling in four or more markets, profiting from a temporary difference; this is a riskless profit for the investor/trader.

A back-end ......... can be a flat fee (meaning everyone pays the same amount of money when taking money out of the mutual fund) or a sliding-scale fee (meaning that the longer you keep your money in the mutual fund, the smaller the fee you have to pay when you take it out).

......... retirement plan is not an IRS plan subject to the eligibility, participation, and non-discrimination provisions set forth in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the regulations thereunder; as such, it is said to be devoid of governmental red tape.

Options are traded in units called ........., each of which entitles the option buyer/owner to 100 shares of the underlying stocks upon expiration.

The Director position is responsible for the ......... analysis of our derivatives portfolio, which includes 1) statistical analysis to measure the effectiveness of hedges, 2) projection of Net Investment Income and Net Investment Gain/(Loss), and 3) attribution analysis of actual reported financial results versus market factors.