09/28 The Alchemists of Wall Street

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http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2150622,00.html
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alchemist
    one who tried to change ordinary metals into gold
    The Alchemists of Wall Street
    alchemist: ˈælkəmɪst
    = magic
  2. irony
    witty language used to convey insults or scorn
    One of the great ironies of American business today is that while the country's biggest, richest companies have more contact with investors and capital markets than ever before,
    when you use words that are the opposite of what you really mean, often in order to be amusing
  3. beset
    assail or attack on all sides
    Just take Apple, which has in recent weeks been beset by activist investors such as David Einhorn and Carl Icahn, who are urging the company, which has some $147 billion in cash on hand (and $3 billion in profit rolling in every month), to borrow money in the bond markets so it can turn around and hand the cash back to investors (like them) in the form of higher dividends or it can buy back shares.
    to make someone experience serious problems or dangers
  4. buyback
    the act of purchasing back something previously sold
    to borrow money in the bond markets so it can turn around and hand the cash back to investors (like them) in the form of higher dividends or it can buy back shares.
    The repurchase of outstanding shares (repurchase) by a company in order to reduce the number of shares on the market. Companies will buy back shares either to increase the value of shares still available (reducing supply), or to eliminate any threats by shareholders who may be looking for a controlling stake.
  5. bolster
    support and strengthen
    Apple is willing to play ball because it has been looking to bolster its share price, which has lagged since Steve Jobs' death nearly two years ago--the last time the company had a really big product hit.
    bolster: ˈbəʊlstə(r)
  6. lag
    hang or fall in movement, progress, development, etc.
    Apple is willing to play ball because it has been looking to bolster its share price, which has lagged since Steve Jobs' death nearly two years ago--the last time the company had a really big product hit.
    to move or develop more slowly than others
  7. underscore
    give extra weight to
    But it also underscores an uncomfortable truth, which is that Apple, one of the most admired companies in the world, spends a large chunk of time and energy thinking about how to create value via financial engineering rather than the real kind.
    to emphasize the fact that something is important or true

    to draw a line under a word or phrase to show that it is important
  8. chunk
    a substantial amount
    spends a large chunk of time
    a large part or amount of something
  9. posit
    a proposition that is accepted as true
    They are positing many reasons to explain this inverse relationship.
    to suggest that a particular idea should be accepted as a fact

    postulate, posit
    => presuppose, suppose
  10. inverse
    turned backward in order or nature or effect
    They are positing many reasons to explain this inverse relationship.
    inverse: ˌɪnˈvɜːs
    exactly opposite
  11. maneuver
    a move made to gain a tactical end
    One is that as banks and investors pour more money and attention into high-flying financial maneuvers like Apple's, they have less funding for plain-vanilla lending to the people and small businesses that create the majority of jobs.
    tactic, tactics, maneuver, manoeuvre
    => plan of action
  12. H
    the 8th letter of the Roman alphabet
    One is that as banks and investors pour more money and attention into high-flying financial maneuvers like Apple's,
    high-flying: someone who is extremely successful in their job or in school
  13. P
    the 16th letter of the Roman alphabet
    they have less funding for plain-vanilla lending to the people and small businesses that create the majority of jobs.
    Definition of 'Plain Vanilla': The most basic or standard version of a financial instrument, usually options, bonds, futures and swaps. Plain vanilla is the opposite of an exotic instrument, which alters the components of a traditional financial instrument, resulting in a more complex security
  14. shareholder
    someone who owns stock in a corporation
    Many investors like icahn would argue that a corporation's job is to get cash to shareholders most efficiently.
  15. dividend
    a number to be divided by another number
    dividend: ˈdɪvɪdend
    a part of a company's profit that is divided among the people with shares in the company
  16. R
    the 18th letter of the Roman alphabet
    Ralph Whitworth at Relational Investors would certainly be one.
    Relational Investors is an activist investment fund based in San Diego, California. Founded in 1996 by Ralph V. Whitworth, the fund has $6 Billion in assets under management. The firm primarily invests in value stocks of companies with market capitalization of over $5 billion while charging a 1% management fee and a 20% incentive fee on returns above the S&P 500.
  17. valley
    a long depression in the surface of the land
    one reason that Google, which has been gaining on Apple in app development, has seen a slow but steady share-price increase rather than peaks and valleys over the past year.
    valley, vale
    => natural depression, depression
  18. millisecond
    one thousandth (10^-3) of a second
    And the short term is getting even shorter--even down to the millisecond
    a unit for measuring time. There are 1000 milliseconds in one second.
  19. liken
    consider or describe as similar or equal
    As Buffett, who likens Wall Street to a restaurant with a casino, once told me, "You've now got a body of people [in the market] who've decided they'd rather to go to the casino than the restaurant."
  20. mind-bending
    intensely affecting the mind especially in producing hallucinations
    One of the mind-bending reasons Apple is borrowing money is that it doesn't want to repatriate the cash it has in overseas accounts and be forced to pay U.S. tax rates on it.
  21. vanguard
    the leading units moving at the head of an army
    But there are plenty of long-term buy-and-hold investors like Warren Buffett and Vanguard founder Jack Bogle who warn that our capital markets have become too short term.
  22. repatriate
    send someone back to his homeland against his will
    One of the mind-bending reasons Apple is borrowing money is that it doesn't want to repatriate the cash it has in overseas accounts and be forced to pay U.S. tax rates on it.
    to send profits or money you have earned back to your own country
    repatriate: ˌriːˈpætrieɪt
  23. equity
    the ownership interest of shareholders in a corporation
    That we have a tax code that favors debt over equity and has allowed U.S. firms to shoulder a smaller share of the country's tax burden over the past 30 years, even while corporate profit as a share of GDP has been rising, is proof enough that there's a large disconnect between finance, big business and the rest of us.
  24. shoulder
    carry a burden, either real or metaphorical
    That we have a tax code that favors debt over equity and has allowed U.S. firms to shoulder a smaller share of the country's tax burden over the past 30 years
Created on Sat Sep 21 18:17:45 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Sep 24 18:29:04 EDT 2013)

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