D

Déport

A discount on carrying over a position on a French equity from one settlement period to next.

Daily official list

The London Stock Exchange's daily official list is the list of listed securities and the prices of transactions published each day.

Dark pools

Private trading venues that offer anonymous executions and lack a quote display.

Day order

An order placed for execution, if possible, during only one trading session. If the order cannot be executed that day, it is automatically cancelled.

Day trader

Speculators who take positions in commodities which are then liquidated prior to the close of the same trading day.

Dealer

An individual or firm acting as a principal, rather than as an agent, in the purchase and/or sale of securities. Dealers trade for their own account and risk.

Debenture

A non-secured loan raised by a company, paying a fixed-rate of interest.

Decimalisation

The process that converted stock prices from fractional pricing to pricing in decimals; that is, in increments from eighths or sixteenths of dollars to nickels (USD0.05) or pennies (USD0.01). Decimalisation and the reduction of tick sizes are not the same and are not necessarily dependent on each other.

Declaration date

The latest day or time by which the buyer of an option must indicate to the seller his intention to exercise the option.

Default

The non-performance of a stated obligation.

Deferred shares

Stocks whose dividends are not paid until the expiration of a stated date, or until a specified event, such as the company's profitability reaching a certain level, has taken place.

Delivery

The settlement of a futures contract by receipt or tender of a financial instrument.

Delivery month

The calendar month in which a futures contract comes to maturity and becomes deliverable.

Delivery points

Those locations designated by futures exchanges at which stocks of a commodity represented by a futures contract may be delivered in fulfilment of the contract.

Delivery versus payment (DVP)

A delivery instruction where the delivery of securities and the payment of the cash consideration are linked.

Delta

The change in the value of the option premium relative to the instantaneous change in the value of the underlying instrument, expressed as a coefficient.

Depository trust company

In the US, a central securities repository, owned by banks and brokerage houses, where stock and bond certificates are exchanged.

Depreciation

The reduction in the book or market value of an asset.

Depth of market

A measure of how much a price has to move in order to execute larger than normal transactions. The smaller the price movement and the larger the transaction, the deeper the market.

Derivatives

Financial instruments or arrangements that derive their value from some underlying stock, bond, commodity or other asset. Futures, swaps, some forwards, options and warrants, and certain mortgage-backed securities are the most common derivative forms.

Dilution

The diminution in the proportion of income to which each share is entitled.

Dirty prices

Bond prices which include the accrued interest.

Discount

When the market price of a newly issued security is lower than the issue price.

Discount factor

The present value of one unit of currency received at a stated future date.

Discount rate

The rate used to calculate the present value of future cash flows.

Discounted cash flow

Future cash flows multiplied by discount factors to obtain the present value.

Distribution date

See Payment date

Dividend

The distribution of (post-tax) earnings to shareholders declared by the board of directors of a corporation to be paid per share to the shareholders. Dividends are usually paid in cash, but can be paid in stock or by means of stock and cash.

Down tick

The sale of a security at a price lower than the previous one.

Dual-currency bond

A bond with the interest paid in one currency and the principal paid in another.

Durante price

Fluctuation price established during trading sessions other than the official opening and closing dealings on Italian exchanges.

Duration

A measurement of the change in the value of an instrument in response to a change in interest rates. It is the primary basis for comparing the effect of interest rate changes on prices of fixed-income instruments.