Glossary
One term per entry, defined plainly, collected here as they appear.
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basis point
A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point, so when you read that a yield rose 5 basis points, it moved 0.05%.
Defined Monday, August 17, 2026 -
bond buyback
A bond buyback is the government using cash to purchase its own previously issued debt back from investors, which adds a buyer to the market and nudges borrowing costs down, though it only works if the amount bought is large enough to matter against the size of the market.
Defined Friday, August 21, 2026 -
comparable sales
Comparable sales, often shortened to same store sales or comps, measure how much more a retailer sold at locations it has already been running for at least a year, stripping out the growth that comes simply from opening new stores, which is why a company like Walmart can beat expectations on profit and still see its stock fall on this one number.
Defined Thursday, August 20, 2026 -
guidance
Guidance is a company's own public forecast of the sales and profits it expects in the months ahead, and because a share price reflects what a company will earn rather than what it already earned, cutting guidance can sink a stock far harder than a weak quarter does.
Defined Tuesday, August 25, 2026 -
rotation
Rotation is when investors sell one group of stocks and buy another on the same day rather than leaving the market altogether, which is what happened when money moved from chipmakers into banks and left the Dow up while the Nasdaq fell.
Defined Monday, August 24, 2026 -
Treasury buyback
A Treasury buyback is when the US government spends cash to repurchase bonds it has already issued from investors in the open market, which adds a buyer to that market and pushes bond prices up and yields down.
Defined Wednesday, August 19, 2026