Finance terms from the week of Monday, August 31, 2026
35 clues and answers from Monday, August 31, 2026 to Sunday, September 6, 2026, each with a
plain-language definition where the term is one worth knowing. These
puzzles are no longer playable; today's game is on the
play page and the last seven days are in the
practice archive.
1 On Aug. 18 the US securities regulator unveiled a rulebook it called "Regulation ___ Assets," the first tailored offering regime for investment contracts involving digital tokens, with a 60-day comment window. What single word fills that blank?
Answer: CRYPTO(6 letters)
Digital assets recorded on a blockchain and secured by cryptography rather than issued by a central bank.
2 The Governing Council of the Frankfurt-based central bank left its policy rates unchanged on Aug. 27, saying a broadly stable outlook left it well positioned amid high uncertainty. Name the single currency, shared by 20 countries, whose policy it sets.
Answer: EURO(4 letters)
3 This Santa Clara-based maker of custom silicon and data-infrastructure chips reported quarterly revenue of $2.74 billion in late August, edging past the roughly $2.72 billion analysts had modelled, in a print overshadowed by its far larger AI-chip rival. Name the company.
Answer: MARVELL(7 letters)
4 In an initial public offering, this over-allotment option lets underwriters sell up to 15% more shares than originally offered and later buy them back in the market to steady the price. What is the informal name for that option?
Answer: GREENSHOE(9 letters)
An over-allotment option letting underwriters issue additional shares above the planned size of an offering, typically up to 15%.
5 As August ends, index trackers and pension funds must buy and sell to restore portfolio weights to their targets after equities outran bonds during the month, generating flows that desks watch into the final session. What is this month-end practice called?
Answer: REBALANCING(11 letters)
Restoring a portfolio to its target allocation by selling what has grown beyond its weight and buying what has fallen below.
1 This Springdale, Arkansas-based meat giant said it will permanently shut a packaging plant by October 12, eliminating 723 jobs as part of a multi-state restructuring of its protein operations. Name the company.
Answer: TYSON(5 letters)
2 In the final week of August the grain complex rallied hard. This crop, the biggest US planting by acreage and the feedstock for animal feed and ethanol, gained about 6% on the week, extending its 2026 advance to roughly 22%. Name it.
Answer: CORN(4 letters)
3 On August 25 this Irving, Texas-based pharmaceutical wholesaler, one of the largest drug distributors in the United States, agreed to acquire Precision Medicine Group, deepening its push into clinical research services. Name the acquirer.
Answer: MCKESSON(8 letters)
4 In finance, this is a contract, often sold by an insurer, that pays the holder a fixed stream of payments at regular intervals for a set number of years or for the rest of their life, usually bought with a lump sum. What is it called?
Answer: ANNUITY(7 letters)
A contract, usually with an insurer, that converts a lump sum into a stream of payments over time - often for the remainder of the holder's life.
5 On the third Friday of September, stock-index futures, index options, single-stock options and single-stock futures all expire on the same session, triggering huge volume and odd price swings. What folklore-flavoured word names that quarterly event?
Answer: WITCHING(8 letters)
An expiry date when several classes of derivative contract expire together - triple witching when index futures, index options and stock options coincide.
1 The Kansas City Fed president told CNBC from Jackson Hole on Aug. 26 that price pressures remain too high and have proven "stubborn and sticky," damping hopes for a September cut. Give his surname.
Answer: SCHMID(6 letters)
2 On Friday, Aug. 28 the Nasdaq Composite slid about 0.5% to 26,402 as Nvidia and Intel dragged chip stocks down, though the index still rose 0.9% on the week. What single word names the industry that makes the silicon devices those two firms sell?
Answer: SEMICONDUCTOR(13 letters)
3 On Aug. 20 this Madrid-based banking group completed its all-cash purchase of Connecticut lender Webster Financial at $75.59 a share, after clearances from the SEC and the ECB. Name the acquirer.
Answer: SANTANDER(9 letters)
4 In accounting, this is the write-down recorded when an asset's carrying amount on the balance sheet exceeds the amount recoverable from using or selling it, forcing a charge against reported profit. What is the term?
Answer: IMPAIRMENT(10 letters)
A write-down recognising that an asset's carrying value on the balance sheet exceeds what it can now recover.
5 US partnerships and S-corporations that pushed their calendar-2025 returns beyond the March deadline must file by September 15. What one word names the extra filing time the IRS grants when Form 7004 is submitted?
Answer: EXTENSION(9 letters)
Extra time the IRS grants to file a return, requested before the original deadline.
1 Bond yields jumped and crude surged early this week as traders tracked reports of an overnight attack on a cargo ship in the narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman that carries roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil. Name that strait.
Answer: HORMUZ(6 letters)
2 On September 1 the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government note touched 4.814%, a level not seen since November 2023. Name the federal department that issues those notes and whose name the market uses as shorthand for them.
Answer: TREASURY(8 letters)
A debt security issued by a national government - in the United States, by the Department of the Treasury. Bills mature in a year or less, notes in two to ten years, bonds beyond that.
3 This Palo Alto-based designer of networking silicon and custom AI accelerators, which also owns VMware, reported quarterly results after Wednesday's close on September 2 with options pricing in a share move of about 8%. Name the company.
Answer: BROADCOM(8 letters)
4 In executive pay, this is the recovery of bonuses or incentive compensation already handed to managers when the results those awards were based on are later restated. US listed companies must have a policy for it. What is the term?
Answer: CLAWBACK(8 letters)
A contractual right to reclaim money already paid - typically executive bonuses after a restatement, or fund distributions returned to investors.
5 The US federal government's fiscal year ends on September 30, so if Congress has not enacted funding bills by then, agencies must furlough staff and halt non-essential work. What single word names that funding lapse?
Answer: SHUTDOWN(8 letters)
A lapse in federal funding that forces agencies to stop activities not covered by an appropriation or another funding authority.
1 Shares of this Beaverton, Oregon sportswear giant slid to a 52-week low around $38 on Sept. 1, a price the stock had not seen in more than two decades, as investors questioned its turnaround. Name the company.
Answer: NIKE(4 letters)
2 Deutsche Bank now calls it the "most likely policy outcome" of the Fed's Sept. 16 meeting, with CME odds near 60%: after a hawkish week of Fedspeak, traders flipped from pricing a cut to pricing the opposite. What one-word term names an upward move in a policy rate?
Answer: HIKE(4 letters)
An increase in a central bank's policy interest rate.
3 This Round Rock, Texas-based maker of PCs and servers surged almost 16% after its latest quarterly results topped estimates and management raised full-year revenue guidance on booming AI server orders. Name the company.
Answer: DELL(4 letters)
4 In accrual accounting, this principle requires a cost to be recognised in the same period as the revenue it helped generate, so cost of goods sold hits the income statement when the sale is booked, not when the inventory was paid for. What is it called?
Answer: MATCHING(8 letters)
The matching principle: expenses are recorded in the same period as the revenue they helped produce, rather than when cash moves.
5 In the days before September's third-Friday expiry, futures traders close out the expiring contract and reopen the same position in December. What one-word term, also used when a maturing deposit or bond is reinvested in a new one, names that switch?
Answer: ROLLOVER(8 letters)
Replacing a maturing obligation with a new one - refinancing debt, or moving a futures position into a later contract.
1 This week Chevron said it would invest about $7 billion in its oil projects in an OPEC founding member on South America's northern coast, expecting to roughly double production there by 2031. Name that country.
Answer: VENEZUELA(9 letters)
2 UK long-term borrowing costs spiked this week: the 10-year yield hit 5.25%, the highest since June 2008, and the 30-year reached 5.89%, a level unseen since 1998. What one-word market nickname is given to UK government bonds?
3 Wisconsin-based Brady Corporation has closed its purchase of the Productivity Solutions and Services arm (barcode printers and scanners) carved out of which North Carolina-headquartered industrial conglomerate?
Answer: HONEYWELL(9 letters)
4 In accounting, this is a liability of uncertain timing or amount recognised when a past event makes a future outflow probable and reliably estimable, such as amounts set aside for warranty claims or restructuring costs. What is the term?
Answer: PROVISION(9 letters)
An amount set aside in accounts for a liability that is probable but uncertain in timing or size - loan losses, warranties, litigation.
5 The US federal fiscal year ends on September 30. If funding bills lapse, agencies place non-essential employees on temporary unpaid leave until money is appropriated again. What single word names that unpaid leave?
Answer: FURLOUGH(8 letters)
A temporary unpaid leave imposed by an employer, with the job itself continuing.
1 Shares of this Austin-based electric-vehicle maker slid more than 6% on Friday, its worst session since July 23, after investors panned the launch event for its Cybercab robotaxi. Name the company.
Answer: TESLA(5 letters)
2 Friday's US jobs report showed 162,000 added in August, far above the 53,000 economists expected, lifting September rate-hike odds above 57%. What one-word term, usually prefixed by "nonfarm", names the monthly headcount of employees on company books?
Answer: PAYROLLS(8 letters)
The count of jobs added or lost across an economy in a month, taken from employer surveys. In the US, non-farm payrolls.
3 Shares of this Vancouver-based yoga and athletic apparel retailer tanked about 18% after it guided to quarterly revenue of $2.29 to $2.32 billion and earnings of 93 to 98 cents a share, well short of the $2.53 billion and $2.40 analysts modelled. Name it.
Answer: LULULEMON(9 letters)
4 When a company issues new shares in a secondary offering or on the exercise of employee stock options, each existing holder's stake shrinks as a share of the enlarged count, and earnings per share fall. What one-word term names that effect?
Answer: DILUTION(8 letters)
The reduction in existing shareholders' proportional ownership when a company issues new shares.
5 The US federal fiscal year ends on September 30, so Congress must pass the annual spending bills that give agencies legal authority to obligate money, or funding lapses. What one word, normally used in the plural, names those bills?
Answer: APPROPRIATIONS(14 letters)
Laws that authorize federal agencies to spend money. Without them, agencies have no legal authority to obligate funds.