S   -    A Nasdaq stock symbol indicating shares of beneficial interest.

Sage of Omaha   -   Nickname of legendary investor Warren Buffett. 

Santa Claus Rally   -   A surge in the price of stocks that often occurs in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. There are numerous explanations for this phenomenon, including tax considerations, happiness around Wall Street, people investing their Christmas bonuses and the fact that the pessimists are usually on vacation this week.

S & P   -   Standard and Poors. A financial services company that rates stocks and corporate and municipal bonds according to risk profiles.

SEAQ   -   The Stock Exchange Automated Qoutation is an electronic trading network that allows stockbrokers to trade by computer.

Securities   -   Another name for stocks and shares.

Securitize   -   The process of pooling a group of financial assets together to create a new security, which is then marketed and sold to investors. The value and cash flows of the new security is based off of the underlying value and cash flows of the assets used in the securitization process. Companies will securitize illiquid assets into liquid assets in order to increase their overall liquidity and generate immediate proceeds from their assets.

Shanghai Stock Exchange   -   The largest stock exchange in mainland China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is a nonprofit organization run by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).  Stocks, funds and bonds are all traded on the exchange, which has listing requirements including that a company must be in business and be earning a profit for at least three years before joining the exchange.

Share   -   By buying a Share, you own part of the equity of the company. When share prices rise the value of the company's equity rises, so the company is worth more. A share entitles you to dividends.

Share Capital   -   Funds raised by issuing shares in return for cash or other considerations. The amount of share capital a company has can change over time because each time a business sells new shares to the public in exchange for cash, the amount of share capital will increase. Share capital can be composed of both common and preferred shares.
Also known as "equity financing".

Share Certificate   -   A share certificate is a written document signed on behalf of a corporation, and serves as legal proof of ownership of the number of shares indicated.
Also referred to as a "stock certificate".

Share Class   -   A designation applied to a specified type of security such as common stock or mutual fund units. Companies that have more than one class of common stock usually identify a given class with alphabetic markers, such as "Class A" shares and "Class B" shares. Different share classes within the same entity typically confer different rights on their owners.

Share Price   -   This is determined by the balance between the supply of shares and the demand for those shares among investors. The share prices are quoted on the stock exchange.

Share Purchase Rights   -   A type of security that gives the holder the option, but not the obligation, to purchase a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined price. This is similar to a stock option or warrant. These rights are typically distributed to existing shareholders, who have the ability to trade these rights on an exchange.

Share Repurchase   -   A program by which a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This is usually an indication that the company's management thinks the shares are undervalued.

Shareholder Register   -   A list of active owners of a company's shares, updated on an ongoing basis. The shareholder register requires that every current shareholder be recorded. The register includes each person's name, address and number of shares held, but can further detail the holder's occupation and price paid. The shareholder register is fundamental to the examination of the ownership of a company.

Short Selling   -   The selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short sellers assume that they will be able to buy the stock at a lower amount than the price at which they sold short. Selling short is the opposite of going long. That is, short sellers make money if the stock goes down in price.

Short Squeeze   -   A situation in which a lack of supply and an excess demand for a traded stock forces the price upward.

Slump   -   A slang term denoting a period of poor performance or inactivity in an economy, market or industry. In economic terms, a slump specifically refers to a recession, signaling a slow down of business activity.

Small Cap   -   Refers to stocks with a relatively small market capitalization. The definition of small cap can vary among brokerages, but generally it is a company with a market capitalization of between $300 million and $2 billion.

Soft Dollars   -   A means of paying brokerage firms for their services through commission revenue, as opposed to through normal direct payments (hard dollar fees).
The investing public tends to have a negative perception of soft dollar arrangements because they believe that buy-side firms should pay expenses out of their profits, rather than from investors' pockets. As such, the use of hard dollar compensation is becoming more common.

South Sea Bubble   -   One of the largest stock scams of all time. The U.K.-based South Sea Company's shares saw a huge appreciation based on rumor, speculation and false claims before plummeting and eventually becoming worthless. Thousands of people lost their life savings. (The scam occurred in 1720, when South Sea's stock soared in the wake of speculation and greed surrounding the monopoly the South Sea Company was perceived to have in the shipping and trade industries, particularly in Mexico and parts of South America. With nothing to prevent it from doing otherwise, South Sea Company's management continued to issue shares in response to seemingly insatiable demand. As a result, the stock's price soared, defying all fundamental sense. Eventually, the truth was exposed: the company was making virtually no profit, and the share price plummeted when investors fled. In the post-Enron investing world, some have dubbed this scam the "Enron of England".  Source: Investopedia.com)

Speculative Bubble   -   A spike in asset values within a particular industry, commodity, or asset class. A speculative bubble is usually caused by exaggerated expectations of future growth, price appreciation, or other events that could cause an increase in asset values. This drives trading volumes higher, and as more investors rally around the heightened expectation, buyers outnumber sellers, pushing prices beyond what an objective analysis of intrinsic value would suggest.
The bubble is not completed until prices fall back down to normalized levels; this usually involves a period of steep decline in price during which most investors panic and sell out of their investments. 
May also be referred to as a "price bubble" or "market bubble".

Squawk Box   -   An intercom speaker often used on brokers' trading desks in investment banks and stock brokerages. A squawk box allows a firm's analysts and traders to communicate with the firm's brokers.

Stagflation   -   A condition of slow economic growth and relatively high unemployment - a time of stagnation - accompanied by a rise in prices, or inflation.

Stagnation   -   A period of little or no growth in the economy. Economic growth of less than 2-3% is considered stagnation. Sometimes used to describe low trading volume or inactive trading in securities.

Stockbrokers   -   The people who buy and sell shares on the Syock Market. They act on behalf of shareholders (who are not allowed to trade themselves), and charge a commission for their services.

Stock Exchange   -   The place where securities (stocks and shares) are bought and sold. Mainly an electronic and telephone market place. The largest Stock Exchanges in the world are New York, Tokyo and London.

Stock Exchange Daily Official Listing - SEDOL   -   An identification code, consisting of seven alphanumeric characters, that is assigned to all securities trading on the London Stock Exchange and on other smaller exchanges in the U.K. (see CUSIP, see ISIN)

Stock Market   -   The market in which shares are issued and traded either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets. Also known as the equity market, it is one of the most vital areas of a market economy as it provides companies with access to capital and investors with a slice of ownership in the company and the potential of gains based on the company's future performance.

Stock Split   -   A corporate action in which a company's existing shares are divided into multiple shares. Although the number of shares outstanding increases by a specific multiple, the total dollar value of the shares remains the same compared to pre-split amounts, because no real value has been added as a result of the split.
In the U.K., a stock split is referred to as a "scrip issue", "bonus issue", "capitalization issue" or "free issue". Example: Shareholder holds 100 shares in XYZ Company. They issue a 2 for 1 stock split. Shareholder now holds 200 shares. A 1 for 1 Bonus Issue has the same effect.

Stop Loss Order   -   An order placed with a broker to sell a security when it reaches a certain price. It is designed to limit an investor's loss on a security position.
Also known as a "stop order" or "stop-market order".

Suicide Pill   -   A defensive strategy by which a target company engages in an activity that might actually ruin the company rather than prevent the hostile takeover. Also known as the "Jonestown Defense."

Swing Trading   -   A style of trading that attempts to capture gains in a stock within one to four days.

Systematic Risk   -   The risk inherent to the entire market or entire market segment.
Also known as "un-diversifiable risk" or "market risk."