J   -    A Nasdaq stock symbol specifying that the stock has voting rights.

J Curve   -   A theory stating that a country's trade deficit will worsen initially after the depreciation of its currency because higher prices on foreign imports will be greater than the reduced volume of imports.

JAJO   -   An acronym representing the months January, April, July, and October.

JASDAQ - Japan Association Of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation   -   An electronic security exchange based in Tokyo, Japan. Originally an over the counter market, Jasdaq launched an electronic trading platform featuring an automated quotation system similar to the Nasdaq.

JCP - Junior Capital Pool   -   A corporate structure whereby companies can issue shares to the public before actually establishing a line of business. The purpose of such a capital structure was to provide an easy way for early-stage companies to raise capital. With a minimum investment from founders of $100,000, the junior capital pool company could get a listing and exposure to public markets.

JGTRRA - Jobs And Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003   -   A U.S. tax law, passed by Congress on May 23, 2003, that lowered the maximum individual income tax rate on corporate dividends to 15%. The act also reduced the long-term individual income tax rate on capital gains to 15%. The act was signed by President George W. Bush on May 28, 2003, and was intended to amplify the effects of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.

JIC - Just In Case   -   An inventory strategy in which companies keep large inventories on hand. This type of inventory management strategy aims to minimize the probability that a product will sell out of stock. A company practicing this strategy essentially incurs higher inventory holding costs in return for a reduction in the number of sales lost due to sold out inventory.

JIT - Just In Time   -   An inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby reducing inventory costs.
This method requires that producers are able to accurately forecast demand.

JMD   -   In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Jamaican Dollar.

JOD   -   In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Jordanian Dina.

JOLTS - Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey   -   A survey done by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics to help measure job vacancies. It collects data from employers including retailers, manufacturers and different offices each month. Respondents to the survey answer quantitative and qualitative questions about their businesses' employment, job openings, recruitment, hires and separations. The JOLTS data is published monthly and by region and industry.

JPY   -   In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Japanese yen. The Yen was established as the national currency of Japan in 1871 and is now one of the most widely held reserve currencies in the world.

JTIC - Joint Tenants in Common   -   A type of brokerage account which is owned by at least two people with no rights of survivorship afforded to any of the account holders.

JTWROS - Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship   -   A type of brokerage account which is owned by at least two people, where all tenants have an equal right to the account's assets and are afforded survivorship rights in the event of the death of another account holder.

Jackpot   -   The top prize in a game of chance. Jackpot prizes can be anything from cash to cars and houses.

January Barometer   -    A theory stating that the movement of the S&P 500 during the month of January sets the stock market’s direction for the year (as measured by the S&P 500). In other words, if the S&P 500 was up at the end of January compared to the beginning of the month, proponents would expect the stock market to rise during the rest of the year.

January Effect   -   A general increase in stock prices during the month of January. This rally is generally attributed to an increase in buying, which follows the drop in price that typically happens in December when investors, seeking to create tax losses to offset capital gains, prompt a sell-off.

Japan ETFs   -   A type of exchange-traded fund that invests the majority of its assets in Japanese equities that trade on local stock exchanges. The performance of Japan ETFs does not correlate to the performance of the underlying index when measured in U.S. dollars, because the change in the exchange rate between the yen and the dollar must be taken into consideration. The performance of Japan ETFs is thus dependent on two things: the performance of the underlying equities and the effect of changing yen into dollars.

Japan Inc.   -   A nickname for the corporate world of Japan that came about during the 1980s boom, when Western business people saw how closely the Japanese government worked with its nation's business sector.

Jarrow Turnbull Model   -   A credit pricing model that utilizes multi-factor and dynamic analysis of interest rates.

Java   -   A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems to support widespread software distribution, in particular over the Web. It is a smaller and more secure version of the C++ programming language.

Jekyll and Hyde   -   1. A slang term referring to the strengths and weaknesses of a company's financial statements.
2. An asset that suddenly increases or decreases in value.
3. A senior manager's good and bad qualities, or the polarized views between two key officers within a corporation.

Jennifer Lopez - J Lo   -   A slang technical analysis term referring to a rounding bottom in a stock's price pattern.

Jensen's Measure   -   A risk-adjusted performance measure that represents the average return on a portfolio over and above that predicted by the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), given the portfolio's beta and the average market return. This is the portfolio's alpha. In fact, the concept is sometimes referred to as "Jensen's alpha."

Jim Cramer   -   Former hedge fund manager, columnist and author as well as host of CNBC's "Mad Money" and CBS radio's "Real Money". Cramer's claim to fame is his bombastic and 'in your face' behavior in which he gives recommendations and analysis on featured and viewer-suggested stocks. Jim Cramer is also one of the founders of TheStreet.com, a popular financial website.

Jingle Mail   -   A situation where a homeowner mails his or her house keys to a mortgage lender due to an inability to meet mortgage payment obligations and a lack of equity in the property. If a homeowner is upside-down in a mortgage and feels the entire loan is a lost cause, he or she may choose to walk away from the property altogether and relinquish it to the original lender instead of going though the foreclosure process.

Jitney   -   1. A situation in which one broker who has direct access to a stock exchange performs trades for a broker who does not have access.
2. A fraudulent activity in the penny stock market involving two brokers trading a stock back and forth to rack up commissions and give the impression of trading volume.

Job Hunting Expenses   -   Deductible expenses incurred while searching for a job in the same or similar line of work. These expenses are deductible regardless of whether you find a new job.

Job Lot   -   A futures contract with a minimum trading unit smaller than the levels required in regular contracts.

Jobber   -   A slang term for a market maker on the London stock exchange.

Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act 2003   -   An act passed by congress that was intended to improve the economy of the United States by reducing the taxes collected, giving the population more money to spend. The act was passed in May 2003 and signed into law shortly after.

Jobs Growth   -   A component of the Employment Situation Summary, reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The job growth figure is expressed as the gross number of jobs created in the American economy in the previous month.

Johannesburg Interbank Agreed Rate (JIBAR)   -   The money market rate that is used by South Africa. The rate comes in one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month discount terms.

John Bogle   -   The founder of The Vanguard Group, and a major figure in the index investing community. John Bogle was the first person to offer an index fund to retail customers. Bogle’s flagship Vanguard 500 Fund became the world’s largest mutual fund by assets in 2002.  
Bogle is an author which has long been a proponent of passive investing over active management, and for low fees and no sales charges.

John Maynard Keynes   -   An author and economist who is well-known for his stance that national governments should attempt to smooth out the effects of expansion and contraction in the business cycle by using fiscal and monetary policy. Keynes is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern day macroeconomic theory, and his views on economic theory have developed into a subset of economic theory called “Keynesian economics”.

Joint   -   In general, a legal term describing a transaction in which two or more parties act together.

Joint Account   -   A brokerage or bank account that is owned together (jointly) by two or more people.

Joint and Survivor Annuity   -   A type of annuity that makes payments for the lifetime of two or more beneficiaries.

Joint Bond   -   A bond that is guaranteed by a party other than the issuer. Also called a "joint-and-several bond."

Joint Credit   -   Credit issued to two or more people based on their combined incomes, assets and credit histories. The parties involved accept joint responsibility for repaying the debt.

Joint Liability   -   An obligation, including an obligation to repay a debt between two or more parties. A joint liability allows parties to share the risks associated with taking on additional debt, and to protect themselves in the event of legal litigation and lawsuits.

Joint Life With Last Survivor Annuity   -   An insurance product that, when annuitized, makes payments to the annuitant, the annuitant and his/her spouse, or the annuitant and another beneficial party until both the annuitant and his/her spouse have passed away. These annuities are not term certain, so they continue paying out to the annuitant, and whoever he or she designates to receive payments, until the death of the annuitant and the designated third party. The annuitant may also designate a beneficiary, who can, but doesn't have to be the same person as the designated third party.

Joint Owned Property   -   Any property held in the name of two or more parties.

Joint Probability   -   A statistical measure where the likelihood of two events occurring together and at the same point in time are calculated. Joint probability is the probability of event Y occurring at the same time event X occurs. 
Notation for joint probability takes the form:

Joint Return   -    A tax return filed on behalf of both the husband and wife, resulting in a combined tax liability.

Joint Stock Company   -   An organization that falls between the definitions of a partnership and corporation. This type of company issues stock and allows for secondary market trading; however, stockholders are liable for company debts.

Joint Venture (JV)   -   The cooperation of two or more individuals or businesses--each agreeing to share profit, loss and control--in a specific enterprise.

Jointly and Severally   -   1. A legal term describing a partnership in which individual decisions are bound to all parties involved and thus undivided.
2. A term used in underwriting syndicates to refer to the distinct responsibility of individual companies to sell a certain portion of unsold new issue.

Jonestown Defense   -   A defensive strategy by which the target company engages in an activity that might actually ruin the company rather than prevent the hostile takeover. Also known as a "suicide pill."

Joseph Effect   -   The idea that movements in a time series tend to be part of larger trends and cycles more often than they are completely random. The Joseph Effect is quantified by the Hurst component, where movements fall between a Hurst range of 0 to 1. The term was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot. 

Journal   -   1. In accounting, a first recording of financial transactions as they occur in time, so that they can then be used for future reconciling and transfer to other official accounting records such as the general ledger. A journal will state the date of the transaction, which account(s) were affected and the amounts, usually in a double-entry bookkeeping method.  
2. For an individual investor or professional manager, a detailed record of trades occurring in the investor's own accounts, used for tax, evaluation and auditing purposes.

Judgement   -   A court order to pay a party a certain amount of money.

Judgement Lien   -   A court ruling that gives a creditor the right to take possession of a debtor's real property if the debtor fails to fulfill his or her contractual obligations. A judgment lien may be made against an individual or business and allows the creditor to access the debtor's business, personal property and real estate, among other assets, to pay the judgment.

Judicial Foreclosure   -   Foreclosure proceedings in which a mortgage lacks the power of sale clause. In such an instance, many states require the foreclosure to be processed through the state's courts. If the court confirms that the debt is in default, an auction is held for the sale of the property in order to acquire funds to repay the lender. 
This differs from non-judicial foreclosures, which are processed without court intervention.

Jumbo CD   -   A certificate of deposit (CD) with a minimum denomination of $100,000.

Jumbo Loan   -   A mortgage with a loan amount exceeding the conforming loan limits set by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and therefore, not eligible to be purchased, guaranteed or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. OFHEO sets the conforming loan limit size on an annual basis. 
Also referred to as "Jumbo Mortgage".

Junior Issue   -   Generally speaking, any issue that ranks lower in claim to another issue in terms of dividends, interest, principal, etc.

Junior Mortgage   -   A mortgage which is subordinate to a first or prior (senior) mortgage. Frequently called a second mortgage, this could also be a third or fourth mortgage, etc. In the case of foreclosure, the senior mortgage will be paid down first.

Junior Security   -   A security that ranks lower than other securities in regards to the owner's claims on assets and income in the event of the issuer becoming insolvent.

Junk Bond   -   A bond rated 'BB' or lower because of its high default risk. 
Also known as a "high-yield bond" or "speculative bond".

Junk Fees   -   Nebulous charges assessed at the closing of a mortgage that go to the originator or lender but serve little function. These fees are hidden in the mortgage documents and are usually assessed as raw dollars rather than "points" or a percentage of the loan. Junk Fees may or may not pay for an actual service to the borrower, but they typically are not known to the borrower prior to signing. Some common fees that may be considered junk fees include settlement fees, signup fees, underwriting fees, funding fees, translation fees and messenger fees.
Also known as "padding fees".