Glossary of Accounting, Financial & Investing Information - T

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Taxable capital gain

See capital gain or loss.

Technical analysis

Analysis of stocks and markets based on historical trends, in order to predict which trends will continue into the future.  

Ticker symbol

A ticker symbol is a 1 to 5 letter symbol which is used to represent a security listed on a stock exchange.  The ticker symbol for General Motors, for instance, is GM, and for Intel is INTC.

Times interest earned

Also called interest coverage, times interest earned reflects the ability of the company to pay its interest.  It is calculated as annual operating earnings (income before interest and taxes) divided by annual interest expense.  If the result of this calculation is 2, it means that the company's operating earnings are 2x its interest expense.

Trade date

The trade date for securities transactions is the date the transaction was entered into.  Payment is made for the transactions on the settlement date.

Trade deficit

If a country imports more goods and services than it exports, it has a trade deficit.

Trade surplus

If a country exports more goods and services than it imports, it has a trade surplus.

Trader

A person who buys and sells stocks looking for short term profits.

Trailer fees

Mutual funds pay a trailer fee to the advisor, broker, or dealer where you hold your mutual funds.  This annual fee is part of the management expense ratio (MER), so is not a fee that you see being deducted from your account.  See also front-end load fund, back-end load fund, and no-load fund.

Treasury bills (T-bills)

Short term government debt with a maturity of less than one year, which is sold to investors at a discount from face value, and matures at face value.

The interest income from treasury bills is subject to federal income tax, but is exempt from all state and local income taxes.  Form 1099-INT is issued to taxpayers showing the amount of interest that was paid in the year.  The interest income is normally reported when the t-bill is paid at maturity.

Treasury shares

Shares that have been bought back by the issuing corporation. Shares bought back can be cancelled, or retained as treasury shares.  Treasury shares are issued, but not outstanding, and do not receive dividends or have voting rights.

TTM (trailing twelve months)

Trailing twelve months is usually the total of the last 4 quarters of financial information reported by the company.  Companies produce annual financial statements at the end of their fiscal year, and usually produce interim financial statements every 3 months.

Trustee

An individual or other entity who holds or manages assets for the benefit of others.  Examples are Trust Companies and executors of wills. 

Revised: October 12, 2021