Financial Terms related to Funds

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FUNDS
12b 1 funds

• Mutual funds that do not charge an upfront or back-end commission, but instead
take out up to 1.25% of average daily fund assets each year to cover the costs of
selling and marketing shares, an arrangement allowed by the SEC's Rule 12b-I
(passed in 1980).

Beta equation mutual funds

• The beta of a fund is determined as follows: [(n) (sum of (xy)) ]-[ (sum of x) (sum of
y)] [(n) (sum of (xx)) ]-[ (sum of x) (sum of x)] where: n = # of observations (36
months) x = rate of return for the S&P 500 Index y = rate of return for the fund.

Beta mutual funds

• The measure of a fund's or stocks risk in relation to the market. A beta of 0.7
means the fund's total return is likely to move up or down 70% of the market change;
1.3 means total return is likely to move up or down 30% more than the market. Beta
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is referred to as an index of the systematic risk due to general market conditions that
cannot be diversified away.

Bond arbitrage hedge funds

• Try to capture interest rate differentials or spreads due to mispricing or better

financing than general market participants can attain. Sometimes, there can be a
yield pickup due to convergence between two instruments, a pricing discrepancy
due to inefficient evaluations of senior and junior credit risks, or relative value
differences.

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Commodity funds

• Are investment vehicles that invest in futures and options on futures. Commodities
can include the tradition grains, metals, and livestock as well as stock indices,
currencies, and other financials.

Convertible securities hedge funds

• Generally look to purchase the bonds or preferred securities and sell common
shares against these long positions. The intent is to hedge interest or dividend
paying securities with low or no dividend common shares. In the event of a default
the bonds and other securities have priority to the common shares. Also, the bonds
or preferred stocks usually generate positive cash flows whereas the short positions
are generally not responsible for dividend payments. Therefore the fund should have
a positive cash flow and protected by relative seniority position in corporate
securities. These funds also use warrants and options as portfolio instruments.

Cost of funds

• Interest rate associated with borrowing money.

Cost of funds index

• Is a benchmark used for resetting the coupon rate on an adjustable rate mortgage.
Frequently, this is based on the cost of the 11th District Federal Home Loan
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Bankfunds. This district includes Arizona, California and Nevada.

Currencies and major foreign market hedge funds

• Invest in securities and derivatives which go across borders. These funds try to
capitalize on interest rate differentials between currencies, varying investment
climates for different countries, relative volatilities in equity or credit markets, and
variations of the other hedge fund themes.

Dividend yield funds

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• Indicated yield represents return on a share of a mutual fund held over the past
12months. Assumes fund was purchased 1 year ago. Reflects effect of sales
charges (at current rates), but not redemption charges.

Emerging markets funds

• Are investment vehicles, either open-end or closed-end, which invest in countries

whose economies are becoming more capitalistic. Often this emergence is from
socialistic, communistic or other tightly controlled economic systems. There are also
Hedge Funds which participate in emerging markets.

Emerging markets hedge funds

• Narrow their investment horizon to issues in markets which are not as mature or
liquid as the previous group. However, these less developed markets are believed to
offer greater risk adjusted rates of return. A general perspective is akin to getting in
on the ground floor.

Endowment funds

• Investment funds established for the support of institutions such as colleges,

private schools, museums, hospitals, and foundations. The investment income may
be used for the operation of the institution and for capital expenditures.

Equity hedge funds

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• Try to long position themselves in stronger or outperform issues while selling short
weaker or poorer prospect securities. Variations of this are: trading large cap issues
versus small caps; using derivatives for enhanced returns; specializing in program
trading; or using leverage to magnify returns.

External funds required plug figure

• Under the judgmental approach for developing a pro forma balance sheet, the
amount of external financing needed to bring the statement into balance.

Fed funds

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• See federal funds.

Federal funds

• Non-interest bearing deposits held in reserve for depository institutions at their

district Federal Reserve Bank. Also, excess reserves lent by banks to each other.

• Loan transactions between commercial banks in which the Federal Reserve banks
become involved.

• (1) Non-interest-bearing deposits held by member banks at the Federal Reserve.

(2) Used to denote "immediately available" funds in the clearing sense.

Federal funds market

• The market where banks can borrow or lend reserves, allowing banks temporarily
short of their required reserves to borrow reserves from banks that have excess
reserves.

Federal funds purchased funds

• This term refers to interbank borrowings or the amounts the banks borrow from
each other. These liabilities are not subject to reserve requirements or deposit
insurance. They are short- term uncollateralized loans. More than 90% has a
maturity of 1 day. Costs reflect supply and demand. Subject to large volatility on the
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second Tuesday or Wednesday of the reserve maintenance period.

Federal funds rate

• This is the interest rate that banks with excess reserves at a Federal Reserve
district bank charge other banks that need overnight loans. The Fed Funds rate, as it
is called, often points to the direction of U.S. interest rates.

• The rate of interest charged by banks for short-term OVERNIGHT to other banks.
The Federal Reserve Bank through open-market operations establishes this rate.

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• The rate of interest at which Fed funds are traded. This rate is currently pegged by
the Federal Reserve through open market operations.

• The interest rate charged by one institution lending federal funds to another.

Forward fed funds

• Fed funds traded for future delivery.

• Fed funds traded for future delivery.

Funds from operations

• Abbreviated FFO. Used by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) to define the
cash flow from their operations. It is calculated by adding Depreciation and
Amortization expenses to earnings, and can be represented as Funds From
Operations Per Share (FFO/S). FFO/S should be used in lieu of EPS when
evaluating REITs and other similar investment trusts.

• Abbreviated FFO. Used by real estate and other investment trusts to define the
cash flow from trust operations. It is earnings with depreciation and amortization
added back. A similar term increasingly used is Funds Available for Distribution
(FAD), which is FFO less capital investments in trust property and the amortization
of mortgages.

Good funds
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• A market expression for immediately available money, that is, Fed funds.

Macro hedge funds

• Are those which are more benchmark or index oriented. They tend to be top-down
in approach rather than bottom-up. These Macro Hedge Funds employ strategies
using actual securities, commodities, currencies, futures, and derivatives. They also
use various degrees of leverage to try to outperform the market or benchmark
indices.

Money market mutual funds

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• Professionally managed portfolios of various popular marketable securities, having
instant liquidity, competitive yields, and low transaction costs.

Mortgage backed securities hedge funds

• Generally focus on being long the actual mortgage backed securities and short
some proxy such as TBAs (To Be Announced), futures, Treasuries or derivatives.
These funds typically purchase highly rated agency paper, CMOs, or REMICs and
finance the positions in the repo market. This financing can often result in gross
asset, principal or market values of $10 billion for an initial cash/equity position of $1
billion dollars. In some respects it is comparable to buying a house with borrowed
money. It is the borrowing which magnifies the performance. If the market quickly
jumps 10 percent higher, then the buyer doubled his investment. Here, it would be
10 percent of $10 billion or a $1billion profit against an initial capitalization of $1
billion. However, if the market declines by 10 percent, then the original investor is
out. If the market went down 25 percent, then the original investor is gone but the
lending institution (bank or brokerage firm) is on the-hook for $1.5 billion. Effectively,
this is what has been recently occurring in the financial industry. The lenders are
becoming defacto new investors, holding losing positions, because of defaults.

Mutual funds
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• Investment companies that receive cash from individuals for investment in both
money and capital market securities.

Objective mutual funds

• The fund's investment strategy category as stated in the prospectus. There are
more than 20 standardized categories.

Pension funds

• Investment entities established by employers to provide a pension (retirement

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income) to employees during their retirement.

Stocks and bonds hedge funds

• Are combinations which are analogous to Balanced Mutual Funds but, depending
on the underlying charter, can use higher degrees of leverage or derivatives.

Surplus funds

• Cash flow available after payment of taxes in the project.

Target funds

• Are mutual funds which invest in specified categories, such as, average maturities
or durations.

Term fed funds

• Fed funds sold for a period of time longer than overnight.

• Fed Funds sold for a period of time longer than overnight.

Unlimited funds

• The financial situation in which a firm is able to accept all independent projects that
provides an acceptable return.

Value funds

• Are mutual or hedge funds which invest in apparently undervalued companies.

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These companies on a quantitative basis may exhibit lower-than-average ratios,

such as price/earnings, price/sales, or book value. Nevertheless, these stocks are
viewed by participants as being bargain priced or value attractive.

Vulture funds

• Are investment vehicles which focus on acquiring properties which may be

available due to financial distress. The properties themselves may not be damaged
but the principal owners may be in immediate need of cash. Usually, the term
describes investment activities in real estate or closely held companies which may

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not enjoy the liquidity benefits of an exchange listing.