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Glossary Politics & World

Sanctions

Restrictions imposed by one government on dealings with another state, entity or individual. They work through banks and intermediaries, which is why enforcement questions often land on financial firms.

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Circuit breaker

An automatic pause in trading triggered by a sharp move. The aim is to let information…

Bear market

A fall of 20% or more from a recent peak, held long enough to look like…

Spot ETF

An exchange-traded fund that holds the asset itself rather than futures contracts on it. A spot…

Interest rate

The price of borrowing money. When a central bank moves its policy rate, mortgages, business loans…

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