Mark Berch:Level-coupon bond

Rule 144a
SEC rule allowing qualified institutional buyers to buy and tradeunregistered securities.

Inflexible expenses
Expenses that cannot be adjusted or eliminated such as car payments or rental payments. Antithesis of flexible expenses.

Back on the shelf
In the context of general equities, permanently canceledorder/interest in a stock by a customer. See: Take a powder.

Mark Berch:Level-coupon bond
Bond with a stream of coupon payments that remain the same throughout the life of the bond.

Neutral hedge
Hedge that is expected to yield a dollar-neutral result of the combined position, regardless of price change in any part of the hedgesecurities. For any convertible trading at a premium, this ratio is less than 100%. The higher the convertible premium, the lower a ratio must be to be neutral. See: Delta.

Certificate of deposit (CD)
Also called a time deposit this is a certificateissued by a bank or thrift that indicates a specified sum of money has been deposited. A CD has a maturity date and a specified interest rate, and can be issued in any denomination. The duration can be up to five years. Mark Berch

Characteristic line
The market model applied to a single security; a regression of security returns on the benchmark return. The slope of the regression line is a security's beta.