Glossary
Free Cash Flow (FCF): International Accounting Standard (IAS) 7 recommends that Free Cash Flow should be recognized as “cash from operations less the amount of capital expenditures required to maintain the firm’s present productive capacity.”
Correlation: A mathematical term describing how closely related the price movement of different securities or asset classes is. A correlation of zero means the relationship between them is totally random. A positive correlation means that they move in similar directions. A negative correlation means that they move in opposite directions. In investing, a low correlation means that different securities or asset types have not performed in the same way: When returns on some securities or asset types decline, returns on others may decline less, or may indeed gain.
Duration: A commonly used measure of the potential volatility of the price of a debt security, or the aggregate market value of a portfolio of debt securities, prior to maturity. Securities with a longer duration generally have more volatile prices than securities of comparable quality with a shorter duration.
Beta: Measures the volatility of a fund, as compared to the overall market. The market’s beta is set at 1.00; a beta higher than 1.00 is considered to be more volatile than the market, while a beta lower than 1.00 is considered to be less volatile.
