Decoded

1

10-K

A detailed annual report that US public companies are legally required to file, covering their full financial results, risks and business operations for the year.

Widely used

10-Q

A detailed report that US public companies are legally required to file every quarter, covering their financial results for that three-month period.

Widely used

3

30-year borrowing costs

The interest the UK government pays when it borrows money for 30 years.

From the Financials & Banks desk

A

Active power

Electrical capacity that is connected and supplying running computer equipment.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Adjusted earnings per share

Profit per share, excluding one-off items.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Adjusted EBIT margin

Operating profit as a share of revenue, excluding one-off items.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Adjusted net profit

Profit after all costs and tax, excluding one-off items.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Adjusted operating income

Profit from running the business, calculated on the company's own basis by leaving out items it chooses to exclude, so it is not a standard accounting measure.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Advanced Imaging Solutions

GE HealthCare's division that sells imaging equipment such as PET and MRI scanners.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Aggregates

Crushed rock, sand and gravel used in construction, especially for roads and concrete.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

AI cloud provider

A company that rents out computing power for artificial intelligence over the internet.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Amyloid plaques

Protein clumps in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Ancillary services

Services that keep the electricity grid stable, such as balancing supply and demand.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Annual recurring revenue

The predictable, subscription-based revenue a software company expects to receive over the next twelve months. Often shortened to 'ARR'.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Arizona-specific margins

Profit margins reported specifically for TSMC's Arizona operations alone, rather than blended into the company's overall, global results.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Assets under management

The total value of the money and investments a bank, fund or wealth manager looks after on behalf of its clients. Often shortened to 'AUM'.

From the Financials & Banks desk

B

Backlog

Orders a company has received but has not yet delivered — its confirmed future work.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Balance sheet

A statement of what a company owns and owes; 'pressure' on it means taking on more debt.

From the Chemicals desk

Bank Rate

The Bank of England's main interest rate.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Bank surcharge

An extra rate of corporation tax charged on UK banking profits, on top of the standard rate.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Barrel

The standard unit oil is priced and traded in, equal to 159 litres. Oil prices are quoted as 'dollars per barrel'.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Base effect

When a percentage change appears unusually large or small because the comparison period had an unusually high or low starting figure.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Basis point

One hundredth of one percent. If an interest rate rises from 4.00% to 4.25%, it has risen by 25 basis points.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Bear market

A sustained period, usually defined as a fall of 20% or more from a recent high, in which prices are falling and investor confidence is low.

Widely used

Benchmark

A standard, usually an index or interest rate, that an investment or company's performance is measured against to judge whether it is doing well or badly.

Widely used

Binding limit

The single factor that actually caps how much a system can produce.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Bond

A loan an investor makes to a government or company, which pays the investor regular interest and repays the original amount on a set future date.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Bond yield

The return an investor earns on a bond each year, expressed as a percentage of what they paid for it. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Book-to-bill

New orders divided by completed sales over the same period. Above 1 means orders are arriving faster than they are being completed.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Brine

Naturally occurring salty water containing dissolved lithium and other minerals, found beneath salt flats.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Brownfield

Expanding a site that is already built and operating, rather than starting from scratch on new land.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Budget

The Chancellor's yearly statement of the government's tax and spending plans.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Bull market

A sustained period in which prices are rising and investor confidence is high, typically referring to shares, a sector, or the market as a whole.

Widely used

C

Cannibalization

A reduction in sales volume or revenue of a company's high-margin products caused by the introduction of cheaper alternative items within its own lineup.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Capacity utilisation

The percentage of a factory or plant's maximum possible output that it is actually producing. Running near 100% signals a company may struggle to meet extra demand without new investment.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Capital expenditure

Money a company spends on long-term physical assets, such as factories, machinery or vehicles, rather than on its day-to-day running costs. Often shortened to 'capex'.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Capital markets day

An event where a company's management presents its strategy and financial targets directly to investors and analysts, usually in more depth than a normal results announcement.

Widely used

Cash flow

The actual money moving in and out of a company day to day, separate from the profit it reports on paper; a company can look profitable on paper but still run short of real cash if money going out happens faster than money coming in.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Catchment area

The area a quarry or plant can supply economically, mainly limited by transport cost and distance.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Central bank

A country's official institution responsible for controlling its money supply and interest rates, such as the Bank of England, the European Central Bank or the US Federal Reserve.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Chancellor

The government minister in charge of the UK's finances and taxes.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Churn rate

The percentage of a company's customers who cancel or stop using its product over a given period — a key health measure for subscription businesses.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Clausius-Clapeyron relation

The equation that describes how steeply a liquid's vapour pressure rises as temperature increases.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Clinical trial

A structured study testing whether a new drug or treatment is safe and effective in humans, before it can be approved for general use.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Closed-loop liquid cooling

A cooling system that keeps recirculating the same coolant rather than continuously drawing in and discharging fresh water.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Cloud computing

Running software and storing data on remote servers accessed over the internet, rather than on a company's own physical computers.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Cold plate

A metal plate with internal channels that sits directly on a chip and carries coolant close enough to pull heat away faster than air can.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Commercial scale

Production large enough to operate as a full industrial operation rather than a small-scale test.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Commissioning

Installing, testing and approving equipment before it is put into normal use.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Commodity

A raw material or basic good, such as copper, wheat or oil, that is broadly the same regardless of who produces it and is traded on that basis.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Commodity chemicals

Standardized, high-volume chemicals sold mainly on price.

From the Chemicals desk

Compaction

Pressing freshly laid asphalt down with rollers so it sets firm and lasts.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Comparable basis

A way of comparing figures after adjusting for one-off effects like currency movements or acquisitions, so the comparison reflects underlying business performance.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Concession

A contract allowing a company to operate infrastructure, such as a motorway, for a specified period.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Consensus estimate

The average forecast for a company's results, calculated across all the analysts who cover it. A 'beat' means the company did better than this average; a 'miss' means it did worse.

Widely used

Consolidate the market

To combine competitors through deals, reducing the number of players.

From the Chemicals desk

Consumer price index

A measure of inflation that tracks the average change in prices for a fixed basket of everyday goods and services. Often shortened to 'CPI'.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Contract award

The formal decision by a government or customer to award a specific contract to a company, often the trigger event analysts watch most closely in defence.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Contracted power

Electrical capacity secured through agreements, including capacity for sites that are not yet operating.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Corrosion

The gradual deterioration of a metal through chemical or electrochemical reactions.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Corrosion inhibitor

A chemical added to a coolant to slow the corrosion of the metals it touches.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Cost overrun

When a project costs more to complete than budgeted.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Cracker

An industrial plant that breaks down ('cracks') large hydrocarbon molecules from oil or gas into smaller ones, such as ethylene, used to make plastics and other chemicals.

From the Chemicals desk

Credit rating

A score, given by agencies like Moody's or S&P, that estimates how likely a government or company is to repay its debts — a higher rating means it can typically borrow more cheaply.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Currency peg

A policy where a country fixes its exchange rate to another currency, such as the US dollar, rather than letting it float freely on the open market.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Current account

An everyday bank account for wages, bills and card payments, which usually pays little or no interest.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

The total net profit or revenue a business expects to earn from a customer throughout the entire duration of their purchasing relationship.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Cyclotron

A machine that produces the radioactive atoms used in tracers.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

D

Debt interest

The money the government pays each year on what it has borrowed.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Defence budget

The total amount a government plans to spend on its military in a given year, a key driver of demand for defence contractors.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Delivered cost

The price of material once it reaches the site, including transport, not just the cost of producing it.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Direct lithium extraction (DLE)

A technology that removes lithium directly from brine using specialised materials, rather than relying on evaporation ponds.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Direct-to-chip

A cooling method in which coolant flows through metal plates fixed directly onto processors to carry heat away.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Discretionary spending

Money households spend on non-essential goods and services, such as holidays or luxury goods, which is typically the first thing cut back when budgets tighten.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Dissolved metals

Metal ions that have leached into a coolant from pipes or components, often a sign of corrosion.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Diversification

Spreading investments across different companies, sectors or asset types so that a problem in any single one does not sink the whole portfolio.

Widely used

Dividend

A cash payment a company makes to its shareholders out of its profits, usually every three or six months.

Widely used

Dividend yield

A company's annual dividend divided by its current share price, shown as a percentage. A £100 share paying a £3 annual dividend has a 3% yield.

Widely used

Dollar index

A measure of the dollar's value against a basket of other major currencies.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Drug pipeline

The full list of treatments a pharmaceutical or biotech company currently has in development, from early research through to late-stage clinical trials.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

E

Earnings

A company's profit over a period, usually reported every three months. 'Earnings season' is the few weeks when most large companies report at once.

Widely used

Earnings per share

A company's total profit divided by the number of shares it has issued. Often shortened to 'EPS'.

Widely used

EBITDA

A company's profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are subtracted — a rough measure of how much cash the underlying business generates before accounting and financing choices are factored in.

Widely used

Electronic warfare

Military use of electronics to disrupt or deceive an enemy's systems.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Enterprise value

What it would cost to buy an entire company outright: its market capitalisation plus its debt, minus its cash. Used instead of market cap when comparing companies with different amounts of debt.

Widely used

ESMO

The European Society for Medical Oncology, Europe's leading organisation for cancer doctors. Its annual conference is where major cancer trial results are often revealed for the first time.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

EUV lithography

A technology that uses very short-wavelength ultraviolet light to print tiny circuit patterns onto silicon wafers.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Exchange rate

The price of one currency in terms of another — how many dollars, for example, it takes to buy one pound.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Exploratory talks

Early discussions to test whether a deal is possible, before formal negotiations.

From the Chemicals desk

Export controls

Government rules restricting the sale of certain products or technologies to other countries.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Extra 3% charge

The bank surcharge, a tax on bank profits above £100m a year, paid on top of the 25% corporation tax all large companies pay.

From the Financials & Banks desk

F

Fabrication debris

Particles and residues left inside pipes and components from manufacturing and installation.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

FDA approval

Official clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration allowing a company to sell a new drug or medical product in the United States.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Federal funds rate

The interest rate the Federal Reserve sets and the one meant when people say the Fed has raised or cut rates.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Federal Reserve

The central bank of the United States, often just called 'the Fed', which sets US interest rates and oversees the American banking system.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Feedstock

The raw material, often oil or natural gas, that a chemical plant processes into its finished products.

From the Chemicals desk

FERC

The US government body that approves the building of LNG export terminals.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Firm-fixed-price contract

A contract where the price is set in advance and the company absorbs any cost overruns.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Fluorine-18

A radioactive form of fluorine used to make PET tracers.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Footfall

The number of people who visit a physical shop or shopping location over a given period.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Foundry

A factory that manufactures chips designed by other companies, rather than designing its own — TSMC is the best-known example.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Free cash flow

The cash a company has left after paying for its running costs and its investment in equipment and infrastructure — the cash it is genuinely free to spend on dividends, buybacks or debt repayment.

Widely used

Free-on-board (FOB)

A contract where the customer takes ownership of the cargo at the export terminal and arranges its own shipping.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Futures contract

An agreement to buy or sell a set amount of a commodity at a fixed price on a specific future date, used to lock in costs or prices in advance.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

G

Generation capacity

The maximum amount of electricity a power plant or company can produce at any one time, usually measured in megawatts or gigawatts.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Generic drug

A copy of a brand-name drug, sold once its patent has expired, containing the same active ingredient but usually much cheaper.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Gilt

A bond issued by the UK government to borrow money.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Gilt yield

The interest rate the government effectively pays when it borrows by selling gilts.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Glycol

An alcohol-based liquid mixed with water in coolants, mainly to stop the mixture freezing and to limit microbial growth.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Grid

The network of cables and infrastructure that carries electricity from power stations to homes and businesses.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Gross domestic product

The total value of everything a country produces in a given period — the standard measure of the size of an economy. Often shortened to 'GDP'.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Gross margin

The percentage of revenue left after subtracting the direct cost of making a product or providing a service, before other costs like marketing or admin are taken out.

Widely used

Group

A parent company together with all the companies it owns.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Guidance

A company's own forecast of what it expects its sales or profits to be over the coming months, given to investors so they are not surprised later.

Widely used

GW (gigawatt)

A unit of power equal to one billion watts.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

H

Half-life

The time it takes for a radioactive substance to lose half of its strength.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Hazard ratio

The standard measure of relative risk over time in clinical trials. It compares the rate at which an event occurs in the treatment group with the rate in the control group across the follow-up period; a hazard ratio of 1.0 means no difference, and below 1.0 favours the new treatment.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Hedge

An investment or strategy taken on specifically to offset the risk of another investment, so a loss in one is cushioned by a gain in the other.

Widely used

High-bandwidth memory (HBM)

A type of memory that can transfer large amounts of data very quickly, particularly useful for AI processors.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Hot-mix asphalt

Road surfacing made by mixing heated aggregates with bitumen, which must be laid and pressed down while still hot.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

I

Immunotherapy

A cancer treatment that boosts the body's own immune system so it can recognise and attack cancer cells.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Index

A basket of shares, such as the FTSE 100 or S&P 500, tracked together as a single number so investors can follow how a market or sector is performing as a whole.

Widely used

Index-linked gilt

A gilt whose interest and repayment rise with inflation.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Inflation

The rate at which prices for goods and services rise over time, eroding how much a fixed amount of money can buy.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Initial public offering

The first time a company sells its shares to the public and lists on a stock exchange. Often shortened to 'IPO'.

Widely used

Interest rate

The cost of borrowing money, or the reward for saving it, expressed as a percentage of the amount over a year.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Inventory rebuilding

When retailers or distributors increase their stock levels after previously reducing them, creating additional orders for manufacturers.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

L

Late-stage (Phase 3)

The final, large-scale stage of testing before approval.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Lead time

The length of time between a customer placing an order and actually receiving it. Long lead times are often a sign that demand is outstripping a company's ability to produce.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Leverage

The use of borrowed money to fund an investment or a company's operations. Higher leverage magnifies both potential gains and potential losses.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Liquidity

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without significantly moving its price. A share that trades constantly in large volumes is highly liquid; one that rarely trades is not.

Widely used

Lithium ions

Electrically charged lithium particles dissolved in brine, which can be captured during DLE.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Lithium recovery rate

The percentage of lithium in the original brine that is successfully extracted.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

LNG

Liquefied natural gas — natural gas cooled until it turns into a liquid, which shrinks its volume enough to be shipped by tanker.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Loan loss provision

Money a bank sets aside in advance to cover loans it expects some borrowers will fail to repay.

From the Financials & Banks desk

M

Manufacturing capacity

The amount of chips a factory can produce over a given period.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Manufacturing economics

How much it costs, and how efficiently, a drug can be produced at scale.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Manufacturing yield

The percentage of manufactured chips that work correctly.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Margin spread

The difference between the price of a chemical company's finished product and the cost of the feedstock used to make it — its core measure of profitability.

From the Chemicals desk

Market capitalisation

The total value of a company's shares — its share price multiplied by the number of shares it has issued. Often shortened to 'market cap'.

Widely used

Market maker

A firm that continuously offers to buy and sell a particular share, keeping the market liquid so other investors can trade it easily at any time.

Widely used

Melanoma

A type of skin cancer that starts in the cells that give skin its colour (melanin). It can spread to other parts of the body if not caught early.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Metastasis

The spreading of cancer, as cells from the original (primary) tumour travel to other parts of the body to form new tumours.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Midterms

US congressional elections held halfway through a president's term.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

mRNA

A molecule that carries genetic instructions from DNA to the cell's protein-making machinery.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Mtpa

Million tonnes per annum — the standard way of measuring how much LNG a plant can produce in a year.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

N

NECEC

New England Clean Energy Connect, a power line carrying electricity from Canada to New England in the US.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Net brine extraction

The volume of brine pumped out of a salt flat minus the volume returned.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Net debt

A company's total borrowing minus the cash it holds.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Net interest expense

The cost of a company's borrowing over a period, after subtracting any interest it earned.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Net interest income (NII)

The interest a bank earns on loans and investments (assets) minus the interest it pays on deposits (liabilities).

From the Financials & Banks desk

Net interest margin

The difference between the interest a bank earns on loans and the interest it pays out on deposits, shown as a percentage of its lending assets — one of the main measures of a bank's profitability.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Net margin

The percentage of revenue that ends up as final profit after every cost, including interest and tax, has been subtracted.

Widely used

Networks

Iberdrola's business that builds and runs power lines and substations.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Non-inferior HbA1c reduction

A new drug lowers blood sugar (HbA1c) by at least as much as an existing treatment, within a pre-defined acceptable margin.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Non-performing loan

A loan on which the borrower has stopped making the required payments, usually for 90 days or more, signalling it may not be fully repaid.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Notes

Bonds, meaning loans from investors that pay a fixed rate of interest each year and are repaid on a set date.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

O

Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)

The independent body that forecasts the UK's public finances.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group of major oil-producing nations that coordinates output levels to influence the global price of oil.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Operating costs

The day-to-day expenses a company incurs running its business, such as staff, utilities and maintenance, separate from one-off spending on new buildings or equipment.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Operating environment

The outside conditions a company faces, such as demand, prices, energy costs and competition.

From the Chemicals desk

Operating margin

The percentage of revenue left as profit after all the costs of running the business — production, staff, marketing, admin — but before interest and tax.

Widely used

Optimised Cascade process

A liquefaction design that cools gas in stages, each stage using a different refrigerant to reach a lower temperature.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Order book

The total value of all the orders a company has secured but not yet delivered or fulfilled — closely related to backlog.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Orders

The value of new contracts and business a company has won in a given period, not yet delivered or recognised as revenue.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Ore grade

The concentration of a valuable metal within mined rock, usually shown as a percentage. Higher-grade ore yields more metal per tonne mined.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Organic growth

Growth excluding the effect of acquisitions, disposals and currency changes.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

P

Patent cliff

The sharp drop in sales a drugmaker faces when a blockbuster drug's patent expires and cheaper generic copies are allowed onto the market.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Percentage point

The simple difference between two percentages, so a move from 3.75% to 4% is 0.25 percentage points.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Permit (quarry licence)

Official permission to extract material from a quarry, which can take years to get.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

PET scan

A medical scan that uses a small radioactive dose to show activity inside the body.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

pH

A measure of how acidic or alkaline a liquid is.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Pharmaceutical Diagnostics segment

GE HealthCare's division that sells tracers and imaging agents.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Phase III trial

The final and largest stage of human testing a drug goes through before regulators will consider approving it, typically involving hundreds or thousands of patients to confirm it works and is safe.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Pilot plant

A small-scale facility used to test whether a technology works before building a full commercial operation.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Plant

In process engineering, the physical equipment and facilities that produce output.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Power density

How much electrical power, and therefore heat, a single server rack draws, usually measured in kilowatts per rack.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Power draw

The amount of electricity a device, such as a chip or a rack, is consuming at a given moment.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Precious-metal watches

Watches made using valuable metals such as gold or platinum, typically positioned at the higher end of the market.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Price Ladder

The structured spectrum of product price points offered by a brand, designed to guide consumers from lower-priced entry items to high-value core flagships.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Price target

An analyst's forecast of what a company's share price will be at a set point in the future, usually twelve months out.

Widely used

Price-to-earnings ratio

A company's share price divided by its profit per share. A P/E of 20 means investors are paying £20 for every £1 of annual profit the company makes.

Widely used

Private label

Products manufactured for and sold under a retailer's own brand name, rather than a name-brand manufacturer's — usually cheaper and higher-margin for the retailer.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Property and equipment

Long-lasting physical assets such as buildings, servers, chips and networking gear.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Prospect theory

A theory that people judge outcomes as gains or losses compared with what they expected, and feel losses more strongly than equal gains.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Prospectus

A legal document a company publishes when it lists on a stock exchange or raises money, setting out its business, finances and the risks of investing in it.

Widely used

Q

Quantitative easing

A central bank creating new money to buy bonds, aiming to push interest rates down and encourage borrowing and spending when the economy needs support.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

R

Rack

The tall, shelf-like frame that holds a data centre's servers and chips, stacked one above another.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Real yield

A bond's yield after subtracting expected inflation.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Recession

A period, commonly defined as two consecutive quarters, in which a country's economy shrinks rather than grows.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Recurrence

When cancer comes back after treatment, such as after a tumour has been surgically removed.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Refrigerant

A fluid that absorbs heat as it evaporates and releases it as it condenses, used to carry heat out of a gas.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Regulated Asset Base (RAB)

A financial and regulatory model where a company's return is set by the value of the assets it has built, rather than by the market.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Regulator (CNMC, Ofgem, FERC)

The government bodies that set grid companies' allowed returns in Spain, the UK and the US.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Regulatory approval

Sign-off from competition authorities before a deal can complete, sometimes conditional on selling off sites.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Renewable energy

Power generated from sources that naturally replenish, such as wind, solar and hydropower, as opposed to finite fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Reserve alkalinity

A measure of a coolant's remaining capacity to neutralise acids, which indicates how much corrosion protection it has left.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Restructuring

Reshaping a business, for example by cutting jobs or selling divisions, to improve profitability.

From the Chemicals desk

Retail Prices Index (RPI)

An older measure of inflation, used to calculate payments on index-linked gilts.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Return on equity

A company's profit divided by shareholder equity, shown as a percentage — a measure of how efficiently it turns shareholders' money into profit. Often shortened to 'ROE'.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Revenue

The total amount of money a company brings in from selling its products or services, before any costs are subtracted. Also called 'sales' or 'turnover'.

Widely used

Revenue backlog

The value of future sales that customers have committed to under signed contracts but that have not yet been delivered.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

RIIO-T3

The UK's current rulebook from Ofgem setting what electricity transmission companies can earn, which started in April 2026.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

S

Same-store sales

The change in sales at a retailer's existing shops, excluding newly opened or closed locations — a way of measuring genuine growth rather than growth from simply opening more stores.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Sell-side analyst

An analyst working for a bank or brokerage who publishes research and ratings on companies for their clients to trade on, as opposed to a 'buy-side' analyst who invests a fund's own money.

Widely used

Semiconductor

A material, usually silicon, used to make the chips that power almost all modern electronics — computers, phones, cars and data centres alike. Often just called a 'chip'.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Semiconductor supply chain

The companies and processes involved in designing, manufacturing and delivering chips.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Share buyback

When a company uses its own cash to buy back its own shares, reducing the number left in circulation so each remaining share represents a slightly bigger slice of the company.

Widely used

Short selling

Borrowing shares to sell them now, hoping to buy them back later at a lower price and pocket the difference — a way of profiting if a share price falls rather than rises.

Widely used

Software as a service

A business model where customers pay an ongoing subscription to use software hosted online, rather than buying and installing it once. Often shortened to 'SaaS'.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Solar evaporation

A process that uses sunlight to evaporate water from brine, leaving the lithium and other minerals more concentrated.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Sovereign debt

Money borrowed by a national government, usually by issuing bonds that investors buy.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Specialty chemicals

Chemicals made in smaller amounts for specific uses, with steadier earnings than bulk products.

From the Chemicals desk

Spot gold

The price for gold bought and delivered now, rather than at a future date.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Spot price

The current price to buy or sell a commodity immediately, as opposed to a price agreed now for delivery at a later date.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Steel watches

Watches made primarily from stainless steel, generally positioned at more accessible prices than precious-metal models.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Stopgap (funding)

A short-term budget that keeps spending flat until a longer-term budget is passed.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk

Stoxx 600 Banks Index

A measure of the combined share prices of large listed European banks, tracking the performance of major banking-sector companies across developed European countries.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Structural hedge

Deals that fix, for several years at a time, what a bank earns on steady money such as current-account balances, so changes in interest rates only reach it gradually.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Supply chain

The full network of suppliers, factories and transport a company relies on to turn raw materials into a finished product on a customer's doorstep.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Supply-chain normalisation

A return to more stable production, manufacturing and distribution following periods of disruption.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Swiss watch exports

Watches manufactured in Switzerland and shipped to international markets, used as an indicator of demand for the Swiss watch industry.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

T

Tier 1 capital

A bank's core financial cushion — mainly shareholder equity and retained profits — that regulators require it to hold to absorb losses before it becomes a risk to depositors.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Tolerability

How well patients can take a drug without experiencing unacceptable side effects.

From the Pharmaceuticals, Biotech & Life Sciences desk

Toll

A fee a driver pays to use a particular road, bridge or tunnel, usually based on the distance travelled and the type of vehicle.

From the Industrials, Capital Goods & Transport desk

Tracer

The radioactive substance injected before a PET scan.

From the Healthcare Services & Medical Equipment desk

Trade deficit

The amount by which a country's imports exceed its exports over a given period — it is buying more from the rest of the world than it is selling.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Treasury

The government department that runs the UK's public finances and taxes.

From the Financials & Banks desk

U

Underwriting

A bank agreeing to buy and take on the risk of shares or bonds being issued, guaranteeing the company raising money that the deal will go through even if not enough outside investors turn up.

From the Financials & Banks desk

Unsecured

Describes debt that is not backed by specific assets that lenders could claim if the borrower failed to pay.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

V

Valuation multiple

A shorthand way of pricing a company by comparing one financial figure — like profit or revenue — to its overall value, so different-sized companies can be compared on equal terms.

Widely used

Value growth

An increase in the total monetary value of goods exported, which can result from higher prices, greater volumes or both.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

Vapour pressure

The pressure at which a liquid and its vapour are in balance at a given temperature, which rises as the liquid gets warmer.

From the Energy & Utilities desk

Volatility

How much and how quickly a price moves up and down over time. A highly volatile share can swing sharply in a single day; a low-volatility one moves gradually.

Widely used

Volume growth

An increase in the number of watches exported, regardless of their selling price.

From the Consumer, Retail & Luxury desk

W

Wafer

A thin disc of silicon on which many chips are manufactured at the same time.

From the Technology & Semiconductors desk

Warm-mix asphalt

Asphalt made and laid at lower temperatures than hot-mix, so it can travel further before it cools too much.

From the Materials, Mining & Infrastructure desk

Y

Yield

The annual return on a bond, expressed as a percentage of what an investor paid for it.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

Yield curve

A line showing the interest rate a government pays to borrow for different lengths of time, from a few months to thirty years. Its shape is read as a signal about the economy.

From the Macro, Rates & FX desk

YTD (year to date)

The period from the start of the calendar year up to today.

From the Aerospace & Defence desk