第一章中我们已经学过，构建投资组合时首先要决定分配到各个资产大类的货币金额，如安全货币市场证券或者银行存款、长期债券、股票、甚至是房地产和贵金属，这个过程叫做资产配置。在每一资产大类中选择具体地资产进行投资，这一过程叫做证券选择。
You learned in chapter 1 that the process of building an investment portfolio usually begins by deciding how much money to allocate to broad classes of assets, such as safe money market securities or bank accounts, longer term bonds, stocks, or even asset classes like real estate or precious metals. This process is called asset allocation. Within each class the investor then selects specific assets from a more detailed menu. This is called security selection.
每一资产大类都包含多种证券，而且每一小类的资产种类也多种多样。本章的学习目标是了解各大类证券的主要特点，为达成这一目标，本章将根据每一资产大类依次介绍各种金融工具。
Each broad asset class contains many specific security types, and the many variations on a theme can be overwhelming. Our goal in this chapter is to introduce you to the important features of broad classes of securities. Toward this end, we organize our tour of financial instruments according to asset class.
金融市场通常被分为货币市场和资本市场。货币市场工具包括短期的、变现能力强的、流动性强的、风险低的债务证券。货币市场工具有时被称为现金等价物，或简称为现金。相反，资本市场主要由期限较长的、风险较大的证券组成。资本市场上证券种类远远多于货币市场上的证券种类，因此又可以将资本市场细分为四个部分：长期债券市场、权益市场以及期权与期货衍生工具市场。
Financial markets are traditionally segmented into money markets and capital markets. Money market instruments include short-term, marketable, liquid, low-risk debt securities. Money market instruments sometimes are called cash equivalents, or just cash for short. Capital markets, in contrast, include longer term and riskier securities. Securities in the capital market are much more diverse than those found within the money market. For this reason, we will subdivide the capital market into four segments: longer term bond markets, equity markets, and the derivative markets for options and futures.
本章将首先介绍货币市场工具，然后介绍债务证券和权益证券。本章还将分析各种股票市场指数的结构，因为市场基准组合在构建投资组合时起到重要作用。最后本章介绍期权和期货合约的衍生证券市场。
We first describe money market instruments. We then move on to debt and equity securities. We explain the structure of various stock market indexes in this chapter because market benchmark portfolios play an important role in portfolio construction and evaluation. Finally, we survey the derivative security markets for options and futures contracts.
SUMMARY
1. 货币市场证券是极短期的债务，其变现能力强且风险相对较低。期限短和信用风险低的特点使货币市场证券只能获得最小的资本利得或损失。这类证券交易面值很大，但可以通过货币市场基金间接购买。
1. Money market securities are very short-term debt obiligations. They are usually highly marketable have relatively low credit risk. Their low maturities and low credit risk ensure minimal capital gains or lossses. These securities trade in large denominations, but they may be purchased indirectly through money funds.
2. 美国政府通常通过发行中长期国债来借款。中长期国债是一种息票支付债券，设计上与息票支付形式的公司债券相似，通常以面值或接近面值的价格发行。
2. Much of U.S. government borrowings is in the form of Treasury bonds and notes. These are coupon-paying bonds usually issued at or near par value. Treasury notes and bonds are similar in design to coupon-paying corporate bonds.
3. 市政债券与其他债券的最大区别在于其免税的特征，市政债券的利息收入（不包括资本利得）免征联邦政府所得税。市政债券的应税等值收益率等于Rm/(1-t)，其中Rm表示市政债券的收益率，t表示投资者的税率等级。
3. Municipal bonds are distinguished largely by their tax-exempt status. Interest payments (but not capital gains) on these securities are exempt from federal income taxes. The equivalent taxable yield offered by a muniapal bond equals Rm/(1-t), where Rm is the municaipal yield and t is the investor's tax bracket.
4. 抵押转递证券是将抵押货款打包的资产池。转地证券的所有者从借款者那里获得本金，利息抵押货款的发起者起服务的作用，即把收到的本金和利息转交给抵押贷款的购买者。联邦机构通常会为抵押转递证券担保，但私营的抵押转递证券得不到这种担保。
4. Mortgage pass-through securities are pool of mortgages sold in one package. Owners of pass-throughs receive the principal and interest paymments made by the borrowers. The originator that issued the mortgage merely services it, simply "passing through" the payments to the purchasers of thee mortgage. A federal agency may guarantee the payments of interest and principal on mortgages pooled into its pass-through securities, but these guarantees are absent in private-label pass-throughs.
5. 普通股代表对公司的所有权份额。每一股普通股都赋予其所有者对公司治理事物的一份投票权，并可以按持股比例享有公司派发的股利。股票或权利所有者享有对公司收益的生育追索权。
5. Common stock is an ownership share in a corporation. Each share entitles its owener to one vote on matters of corporate governance and to a prorated share of the dividends paid to shareholders. Stock, or equity , owners are the residual claimants on the income earned by the firm.
6. 优先股通常在公司的生命周期内支付固定的股利，他类似于永续年金。但是，公司无力支付优先股股利并不意味着公司将会破产，未支付的股利将被累积起来。新型的优先股包括可转换优先股和浮动利率优先股。
6. Preferred stock usually pays fixed dividends for the life of the firm; it is a perpetuity. A firm's failure to pay the dividend due on preferred stock, however, does not precipitate corporate bank-preptcy. Instead, unpaid dividends simply cumulate. Newer varieties of preferred stock include convertible and adjustable-rate issues.
7. 有很多股票市场指数可以衡量整个市场 的业绩。道琼斯工业平均指数是最悠久、最闻名的指数，它是一种加权指数。如今，许多覆盖面广泛的市值加权指数每天都被计算，主要包括标准普尔500指数、纽约证券交易指数、纳斯达克指数、威尔希尔5000指数，以及许多非美股票市场指数。
7. Many stock market indexes measure the performance of the overall market. The Dow Jones averages, the oldest and best-known indicators, are price-weighted indexes. Today, many broad-based, market-value-weighted indexes are computed daily. These include the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, the NYSE index, the NASDAQ index, the Wilshire 5000 index, and indexes of many non-U.S. stock markets.
8. 看涨期权是在到期日或到期日之前以规定的执行价格购买某一资产的权利，而看跌期权是在到期日或到期日之前以规定的执行价格出售某一资产的权利。随之标的资产价格的上涨，看涨期权的价值将增加，而看跌期权的价值将减少。
8. A call option is a right to purchase an asset at a stipulated exercise price on or before an expiration date. A put option is the right to sell an asset at some exercise price. Calls increase in value while puts decrease in value as the price of the underlying asset increase.
9. 期货合约是在到期日以合同规定的价格购买或出售某一资产的义务。当标的资产的价值上涨时，承诺购买资产的多头头寸将获利，而承诺出售资产的空头头尺寸方将遭受损失。
9. A future contract is an obligation to buy or sell an asset at a stipulated futures price on a maturity date. The long position, which commits to purchasing, gains if the asset value increases while the short position, which commits to delivering, loses.