Guide to Analysing Companies

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London Bullion Market Association
A body that represents the group of gold dealers who meet
twice a day in London to fix the gold price. (See also fixing.)
London Interbank Offered Rate
The rate of interest, commonly known as libor, which
prime banks in the euromarkets pay each other for de-
posits. libor is usually quoted for deposits of one, three, six
and 12 months and as such is used as a benchmark for the
pricing of bonds issued in the debt markets.
London International Financial Futures Exchange
See euronext.
London Stock Exchange
For years, the London Stock Exchange (lse) was second only in
size worldwide to the new york stock exchange. Over-
taken by Tokyo in the 1990s, it remains the largest exchange in
Europe and trades in the securities of an increasing number
of non-UK companies.
Since it became a formal exchange in 1773, the lse has
become increasingly international and at one stage even called
itself by that name. But it has found it difficult to change. Twice
in recent years it has pulled out of merger deals with the
Deutsche Börse; in 2000, the lse became the potential
takeover target of the Swedish stock exchange, which is
somewhat smaller; and in 2001, it failed to acquire London’s
futures exchange, liffe. Like other exchanges the world over,
the lse is now owned by a company whose shares can be
bought and sold by investors. These days, the floor is no
longer the centre of trading, which takes places on screens and
via the telephone.
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Long
Investors are said to be long in a security when their supply
of the stock plus their commitment to buy it is greater than
their commitment to sell it. A term usually applied to specula-
tors who therefore believe the market may rise; the opposite of
short.
Longs
UK government securities with a maturity of more than 15
years, also called long-term stock. Such gilt-edged securi-
ties (gilts) may be purchased by individuals or institutions
(such as pension funds) seeking to balance their liabilities
over a similar period. In the United States, long bonds are those
with maturities of more than ten years. But “the long bond” is
the 30-year Treasury bond.