GICS

The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) is a consistent set of global economic sector and industry definitions. GICS are used to classify the constituents of many indices worldwide. GICS is a four-level classification system. The four levels are: sector, industry group, industry, and sub-industry. Standard & Poor’s and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), two providers of global indices, jointly launched GICS in 1999.

Short Sale

Selling stock you don’t own. You hope it drops in price so you can buy it back later at a lower price. You must have a margin account with your broker to sell short.

Short Sale Squeeze

A short sale squeeze occurs when there are many short sale positions on a stock the stock begins to increase. As the stock price rises, the short sellers scramble to cover their short positions, i.e., buying the stock they have sold back. This creates demand for the stock above that which caused the stock price to start rising in the first place, and can lead to rapid price appreciation.

Funds From Operations (FFO)

Used instead of earnings to evaluate real estate investment trusts (REITs). Depreciation of real estate that was deducted from earnings is added back in to calculate FFO. Any gains or losses from the sale of real estate is also removed. 

Short Selling

The selling of a security that the seller does not own (naked or uncovered short) or has borrowed (covered short). Short selling is a trading strategy. Short sellers assume the risk that they will be able to buy the stock at a lower price, cover the outstanding short, and realize a profit from the difference.