alpha
n.— «What, exactly, do investors think they are buying when they hire investment managers such as hedge fund general partners? They would probably say something like “the ability to outperform the market”. In professional investor parlance, that is called “alpha”, or the excess returns that the general partner’s skill at active management provides. He knows from number crunching that Ford bonds would come back from the dead, or that nickel inventories were too high.» —“Sometimes monkeys rolling dice won’t do” by John Dizard Financial Times (U.K.) May 17, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...