Day order-order to buy or sell a security that expires unless it is canceled or executed on the day it is placed.

Day Trade-the purchase and sale of a position during the same day.

Dead Cat Bounce-a sharp upward movement in a stock's price after a steep fall. Typically, this bounce is expected to be of extremely short duration because of weak fundamentals. Since this is not PC one commentator on CNBC once used the term "dead malaria infested mosquito bounce" instead of this term.

Defensive Stocks-Utility, food, beer, candy, tobacco and soft drink stocks would be considered defensive stocks. They would offer the investor a greater amount of safety because in periods of recession and adverse economic conditions these companies would be the last to be effected.

Delisting-exchanges have certain requirements to list. They can include earnings history, number of shares outstanding, minimum number of shareholders (400) and having a board of directors. Being on a stock exchange allows for high visibility, which helps attract new investors. Some stocks are delisted for financial irregularities or for falling below the minimum revenue, public float or market capitalization standards on the larger exchanges. However, most delisting are from the NASDAQ National Market. The NASDAQ can send out warnings for a failure to meet a minimum bid price of $1 for 30 consecutive trading days. It will allow 90 days to bring the price back above $1. If this happens for 10 consecutive days the stock will be relisted. The NASDAQ tightened to the $1 share price standard in 1997. They did this because they believed that stocks under $1 a share are easier to manipulate. Companies can appeal, which can delay the delisting for six months or more. They might also try to buy back shares or to use a reverse stock split to increase the share price. However, once a company is dropped they usually lose all analyst coverage and find it hard to pick up additional private funding. Delisted stocks can move to the OTC Bulletin board but they would have limited visibility. It is also possible to be delisted from the OTC. In 1999, the NASD started removing stocks from the bulletin board that did not report standard financial information. These stocks could then move to the National Quotation Bureau's pink sheets.

Dilution-this occurs when a company issues new shares. It causes a reduction in the proportional ownership of the current shareholders. A company might do this because they need additionial shares for an acquisition or when they need cash and sell additional shares to the public in a new offering. Dilution will also occur when warrants and stock options are exercised. Secondary offerings and stock splits do not cause dilution.

Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)-automatic reinvestment of shareholder dividends in more shares of the company's stock. Some companies absorb most or all of the applicable brokerage fees and some also discount the stock price. A few of the more popular DRIP websites are Drip Investor, Drip Central and Netstock.com.

Dogs of the Dow-a contrarian investment strategy in which someone purchases equal amounts of the 10 highest yielding stocks in the Dow industrials. The high yield indicates an out of favor stock. To maintain this portfolio you should rebalance once a year. Mutual funds can not be used for this strategy because they must hold more than 10 stocks. Some brokerages have set up UITs called Select 10s that hold the Dogs of the Dow. Dogs of the Dow.com is a web site that specializes in this strategy.

Don’t Know-wall street slang for a questioned trade.

Double Taxation-taxation of earnings at the corporate level and then again as stockholder dividends.

Updated 1/29/01