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S&P@ 500 Index (Standard & Poor's@ 500 Index)
An index of many of the 500 largest capitalised stocks in the United States that is widely recognised as a guide to the overall health of the U.S. stock market.

Sector
A group of stocks, often related to a particular industry that have certain shared characteristics.

Securities
Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investment vehicles.

Sharpe ratio
A measure of risk-adjusted return. To calculate a Sharpe ratio, an asset's excess returns (its return in excess of the return generated by risk-free assets such as Treasury bills) are divided by the asset's standard deviation.

Sovereign Debt
A debt obligation of any government, including political sub-divisions, local authorities, government agencies, government-owned, controlled, sponsored or guaranteed corporations and supra-nationals.

Standard deviation
A measure of the degree to which a fund's return varies from its previous returns or from the average of all similar funds. The larger the standard deviation, the greater the likelihood (and risk) that a security's performance will fluctuate from the average return.

Stock/common stock
A security that represents part ownership, or equity, in a corporation. Each share of stock is a proportional stake in the corporation's assets and profits, some of which could be paid out as dividends.