Glossary

66 terms from SEC filings, economic releases and housing data, in plain English. Each entry links to the primary source behind it.

A

Accession number: The unique ID EDGAR gives each accepted filing, such as 0001193125-15-118890.
Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM): A mortgage with a fixed starting rate for an initial period, after which the rate adjusts to an index plus a margin.
Amortization: Paying off a loan with regular payments that cover interest and part of the principal, so the balance reaches zero by the end of the term.
Auditor: The independent accounting firm that audits a company's annual financial statements and gives an opinion on them.
Auditor's report: The auditor's written opinion on whether a company's financial statements are fairly presented.

B

Balance sheet: A snapshot of what a company owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities) and the difference (shareholders' equity) on one date.
Benchmark revision: The yearly re-anchoring of BLS payroll estimates to near-complete job counts.
Building permit: A local government's approval to build. Census counts the housing units authorized by permits each month.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): The federal statistical agency that publishes the Consumer Price Index and the monthly jobs report.

C

Cash flow statement: A report of the cash that came in and went out over a period, split into operating, investing and financing activities.
Conforming loan: A mortgage that meets Fannie Mae's or Freddie Mac's guidelines and is no larger than the conforming loan limit.
Consumer Price Index (CPI): A BLS measure of the average change over time in the prices urban consumers pay for a market basket of goods and services.
Core CPI: The Consumer Price Index for all items except food and energy.
CPI-U and CPI-W: The two main CPI populations: all urban consumers (CPI-U) and urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W).

D

Delisting: When a stock exchange removes a company's securities from trading on that exchange.

E

EDGAR: The SEC's free online system for submitting and reading company filings.
The Employment Situation (jobs report): BLS's monthly report on jobs, unemployment, hours and earnings, built from a household survey and an employer survey.
Establishment survey (Current Employment Statistics): BLS's monthly survey of about 119,000 businesses and government agencies, covering about 622,000 worksites, behind nonfarm payrolls.
Exhibit: A document attached to a filing, such as a contract, a press release or an auditor's letter.

F

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Two companies that buy home loans from lenders and package many of them into securities. FHFA regulates them.
Federal funds rate: The interest rate banks pay to borrow reserve balances overnight. The FOMC sets a target range for it.
Federal Reserve: The U.S. central bank. Its Federal Open Market Committee sets the target range for the federal funds rate.
FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency): The federal agency that regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks and publishes the FHFA House Price Index.
FHFA House Price Index (HPI): FHFA's measure of single-family house price changes, built from repeat sales and refinancings of the same homes.
Filer status: SEC categories, based mainly on public float, that set how quickly a company must file its 10-K and 10-Q.
Financial statements: The core reports of a company's finances: the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and statement of shareholders' equity.
Fixed-rate mortgage: A mortgage whose interest rate is set when the loan is made and doesn't change for the life of the loan.
FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee): The Federal Reserve committee that sets monetary policy, including the target range for the federal funds rate.
Form 10-K: The annual report a U.S. public company files with the SEC, with audited financial statements.
Form 10-Q: The quarterly report public companies file for the first three quarters of each fiscal year, with unaudited financial statements.
Form 12b-25 (NT 10-K, NT 10-Q): A notice that a company can't file its 10-K or 10-Q on time. On EDGAR it appears as NT 10-K or NT 10-Q.
Form 4: The form company insiders use to report their trades in the company's stock, generally within two business days.
Form 8-K: The “current report” a public company files to announce a major event, usually within four business days.
Furnished, not filed: Information under 8-K Items 2.02 and 7.01 is “furnished” rather than “filed”, a legal difference that limits some kinds of liability.

G

GDP (gross domestic product): The broadest measure of the U.S. economy's output, published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Going concern: The assumption that a company will keep operating. “Going-concern doubt” means management or the auditor doubts it can for about the next year.

H

Household survey (Current Population Survey): The monthly survey of about 60,000 households, run by the Census Bureau for BLS, behind the unemployment rate.
Housing completions: New homes that are finished. Census counts a house as completed when all finished flooring is installed, or when it's occupied, if that comes first.
Housing starts: New homes on which construction has begun. Census counts a start when excavation begins for the footings or foundation.

I

Impairment: A reduction in an asset's value on a company's books when accounting rules say it's worth less than recorded.
Income statement: A report of revenue, expenses and the resulting net income or loss over a period.
Inflation: A general rise in prices over time. The CPI is the most widely used U.S. measure of it.

L

Labor force participation rate: The share of the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over that is working or looking for work.

M

Market basket: The set of goods and services whose prices the CPI tracks, weighted by how much households spend on each.
Material: Important enough that a reasonable investor would likely weigh it when deciding to buy or sell.
Material definitive agreement: A material contract outside the company's ordinary course of business. Signing, changing or ending one is reported on an 8-K.
MD&A (Management's Discussion and Analysis): Management's own explanation of the company's results, financial condition and trends, in the 10-K and 10-Q.
Metropolitan statistical area (metro): A region built around an urban area of at least 50,000 people, plus nearby counties tied to it by commuting.
Mortgage rate: The interest rate on a home loan.

N

Non-reliance (Item 4.02): A company's conclusion that financial statements it already issued should no longer be relied on because of an error.
Nonfarm payrolls: The number of paid jobs at U.S. businesses and government agencies outside farming, from BLS's survey of employers.

O

Owners' equivalent rent: How the CPI measures housing costs for homeowners: by the change in what it would cost to rent a comparable home.

P

Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS): Freddie Mac's weekly average of U.S. mortgage rates, usually released Thursdays at noon Eastern.
Proxy statement: The document a company gives shareholders before a shareholder meeting, describing what they'll vote on.
Public float: The market value of a company's common stock held by people other than its affiliates, such as officers, directors and large owners.

R

Regulation FD: The SEC rule against companies sharing material nonpublic information with a select few before the public.
Repeat-sales index: A price index built by comparing the prices of the same homes when they sell or refinance at different times.
Risk factors: The section of a 10-K or 10-Q where a company describes the material risks that make an investment in it speculative or risky.

S

Seasonal adjustment: A statistical method that removes regular seasonal patterns, so changes from one month to the next are easier to compare.
Seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR): A seasonally adjusted monthly figure multiplied by 12 (a quarterly one by 4), so one month can be compared with a year.
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission): The U.S. agency that regulates securities markets and the companies that sell stock to the public.
Smaller reporting company: A company small enough, by public float or revenue, to use the SEC's scaled-down disclosure rules.
Substantial doubt: The accounting test for going-concern trouble: it's probable the company won't be able to meet its obligations as they come due within a year.

T

Treasury yield: The interest rate the market sets on U.S. Treasury securities. The Federal Reserve publishes daily yields by maturity.

U

Unaudited: Financial statements that an auditor hasn't audited, such as those in a 10-Q.
Unemployment rate: The share of the labor force that has no job, is available to work, and has looked for work in the past four weeks.

Definitions explain how filings and data work. They aren't investment advice.