Chapter XIV currency markets and share markets валютные рынки и фондовые рынки

Besides the subdivision of markets into money markets, stock-markets and commodity markets, there also exist a sub-classification of them according to the character of deals concluded - into spot markets¹ and futures markets².

Spot markets are the ones for buying and selling goods, currency or securities available for immediate delivery, futures markets - for delivery at a future date for a price fixed in advance. Futures currency markets are often called forward exchange contracts⁸ markets.

Theoretically it is only the foreign exchange deals (i.e. currency markets) that establish the relative price of one convertible currency against another. [(The currencies are subdivided into hard (free, convertible) and non-convertible, the price of the latter being established more or less artificially, by governments)]. In practice, however, very few currencies are completely free, the central banks of the nations in question intervening in an appropriate manner - including the Bank of England in the UK and the Federal Reserve Board in the USA.

Share markets (also subdivided into spot markets and futures markets) are institutions where shares are bought and sold according to fixed rules but at prices controlled by supply and demand.

The principle of the stock-market is well-known: companies issue shares (British) or stocks (American)* and market them in order to raise additional funds called equity (or share) capital⁵. Shares of the most successful and powerful companies, paying the highest dividends, are called blue chips⁶.

In both currency and share-markets deals are concluded by brokers (individuals or companies) who receive the broking commission⁷ for their services. The two tactics of market-makers are known as those of "bears"⁸ (lowering the prices) and "bulls"⁹ (pushing the prices up).

The condition of share markets as a whole is reflected by many indices, the most widely known of them being the Dow Jones in the USA and Nikkei in Japan.

As for the share capital itself it is subdivided into two main categories: privileged shares (American: preferred stock)¹⁰ and ordinary shares (American: common stock)¹¹. Holders of privileged shares get their dividend payments at a fixed rate, regardless of the market performance of the company's shares, e.g. 5% annually of the par nominal value of the share. This is not always good, for if the company performs exceptionally well, holders of the ordinary shares get the corresponding dividends (say, 50%), whereas the holders of privileged shares still have to be content with the same 5% (if the rules do not stipulate otherwise). Owners of preference shares are sometimes also excluded from the management of the company and have no voting rights¹².

Decisive control over the company's policy is most often (although not always) exercised by the controlling shareholders (also called majority shareholders)¹³, i.e. the owner of more than 50% of all shares.

There are a great many other subdivisions of shares (besides privileged and ordinary), i.e. founders' shares¹⁴, convertible¹⁵, redeemable¹⁶, cumulative¹⁷ privileged shares, subscription¹⁸ and term¹⁹ shares. All these subdivisions reflect the great complexity of this sector of business.

NOTES

1. spot market	— рынок наличного товара, немедленно оплачиваемых валютных и дру-гих сделок
spot price -	— цена «слот» {цена с немедленной сдачей товаров или цена валютных сделок с немедленной оплатой)
2. futures market	— фьючерсный рынок
3. forward exchange contract	— форвардный валютный контракт
4.share = stock n	— акция
5. equity (share) capital	— акционерный капитал
6. blue Chips	— «голубые фишки» (наиболее прибыльные акции крупных компаний)
7. broking commission	— брокерская комиссия
8. "bear" л	— «медведь» {биржевое)
9. "bull"n	— «бык» {биржевое)
10. privileged shares (preferred stock)	— привилегированные акции
11. ordinary shares	— обыкновенные акции
(common stock)
12. voting rights	— право голоса
13. controlling shareholder (majority shareholders)	— владелец контрольного пакета
14. founders'shares	— акции учредителя
15. convertible shares	— конвертируемые акции
16. redeemable shares	— выкупаемые акции
17. cumulative shares	— кумулятивные акции (с накоплением дивидендов)
18. subscription shares	— акции по подписке
19. term shares	— акции на ограниченный срок