Definition of Minimum-variance portfolio

Minimum-variance portfolio

The portfolio of risky assets with lowest variance.
Minority interest An outside ownership interest in a subsidiary that is consolidated with the parent for
financial reporting purposes.

Active portfolio strategy

A strategy that uses available information and forecasting techniques to seek a
better performance than a portfolio that is simply diversified broadly. Related: passive portfolio strategy

Complete portfolio

The entire portfolio, including risky and risk-free assets.

Covariance

A statistical measure of the degree to which random variables move together.

Dedicating a portfolio

Related: cash flow matching.

Efficient portfolio

A portfolio that provides the greatest expected return for a given level of risk (i.e. standard
deviation), or equivalently, the lowest risk for a given expected return.
Efficient set Graph representing a set of portfolios that maximize expected return at each level of portfolio
risk.

Excess return on the market portfolio

The difference between the return on the market portfolio and the
riskless rate.

Factor portfolio

A well-diversified portfolio constructed to have a beta of 1.0 on one factor and a beta of
zero on any other factors.

Feasible portfolio

A portfolio that an investor can construct given the assets available.

Feasible set of portfolios

The collection of all feasible portfolios.

Hedged portfolio

A portfolio consisting of the long position in the stock and the short position in the call
option, so as to be riskless and produce a return that equals the risk-free interest rate.

Leveraged portfolio

A portfolio that includes risky assets purchased with funds borrowed.

Leveraged portfolio

A portfolio that includes risky assets purchased with funds borrowed.

Market portfolio

A portfolio consisting of all assets available to investors, with each asset held -in
proportion to its market value relative to the total market value of all assets.

Markowitz efficient portfolio

Also called a mean-variance efficient portfolio, a portfolio that has the highest
expected return at a given level of risk.

Markowitz efficient set of portfolios

The collection of all efficient portfolios, graphically referred to as the
Markowitz efficient frontier.

Mean-variance analysis

Evaluation of risky prospects based on the expected value and variance of possible outcomes.

Mean-variance criterion

The selection of portfolios based on the means and variances of their returns. The
choice of the higher expected return portfolio for a given level of variance or the lower variance portfolio for
a given expected return.

Mean-variance efficient portfolio

Related: Markowitz efficient portfolio

Minimum price fluctuation

Smallest increment of price movement possible in trading a given contract. Also
called point or tick. The zero-beta portfolio with the least risk.

Minimum purchases

For mutual funds, the amount required to open a new account (minimum Initial
Purchase) or to deposit into an existing account (minimum Additional Purchase). These minimums may be
lowered for buyers participating in an automatic purchase plan

Minimum-variance frontier

Graph of the lowest possible portfolio variance that is attainable for a given
portfolio expected return.

Modern portfolio theory

Principles underlying the analysis and evaluation of rational portfolio choices
based on risk-return trade-offs and efficient diversification.

Normal portfolio

A customized benchmark that includes all the securities from which a manager normally
chooses, weighted as the manager would weight them in a portfolio.

Optimal portfolio

An efficient portfolio most preferred by an investor because its risk/reward characteristics
approximate the investor's utility function. A portfolio that maximizes an investor's preferences with respect
to return and risk.

Passive portfolio strategy

A strategy that involves minimal expectational input, and instead relies on
diversification to match the performance of some market index. A passive strategy assumes that the
marketplace will reflect all available information in the price paid for securities, and therefore, does not
attempt to find mispriced securities. Related: active portfolio strategy

Passive portfolio

A market index portfolio.

Portfolio

A collection of investments, real and/or financial.

Portfolio insurance

A strategy using a leveraged portfolio in the underlying stock to create a synthetic put
option. The strategy's goal is to ensure that the value of the portfolio does not fall below a certain level.

Portfolio internal rate of return

The rate of return computed by first determining the cash flows for all the
bonds in the portfolio and then finding the interest rate that will make the present value of the cash flows
equal to the market value of the portfolio.

Portfolio opportunity set

The expected return/standard deviation pairs of all portfolios that can be
constructed from a given set of assets.

Portfolio management

Related: Investment management

Portfolio manager

Related: Investment manager

Portfolio separation theorem

An investor's choice of a risky investment portfolio is separate from his
attitude towards risk. Related:Fisher's separation theorem.

Portfolio turnover rate

For an investment company, an annualized rate found by dividing the lesser of
purchases and sales by the average of portfolio assets.

Portfolio variance

Weighted sum of the covariance and variances of the assets in a portfolio.

Replicating portfolio

A portfolio constructed to match an index or benchmark.

Serial covariance

The covariance between a variable and the lagged value of the variable; the same as
autocovariance.

Structured portfolio strategy

A strategy in which a portfolio is designed to achieve the performance of some
predetermined liabilities that must be paid out in the future.

Tilted portfolio

An indexing strategy that is linked to active management through the emphasis of a
particular industry sector, selected performance factors such as earnings momentum, dividend yield, priceearnings
ratio, or selected economic factors such as interest rates and inflation.

Variance

A measure of dispersion of a set of data points around their mean value. The mathematical
expectation of the squared deviations from the mean. The square root of the variance is the standard deviation.

Variance minimization approach to tracking

An approach to bond indexing that uses historical data to
estimate the variance of the tracking error.

Variance rule

Specifies the permitted minimum or maximum quantity of securities that can be delivered to
satisfy a TBA trade. For Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Feddie Mac pass-through securities, the accepted
variance is plus or minus 2.499999 percent per million of the par value of the TBA quantity.

Weighted average portfolio yield

The weighted average of the yield of all the bonds in a portfolio.

Well diversified portfolio

A portfolio spread out over many securities in such a way that the weight in any
security is small. The risk of a well-diversified portfolio closely approximates the systemic risk of the overall
market, the unsystematic risk of each security having been diversified out of the portfolio.

Zero-beta portfolio

A portfolio constructed to represent the risk-free asset, that is, having a beta of zero.

Zero-investment portfolio

A portfolio of zero net value established by buying and shorting component
securities, usually in the context of an arbitrage strategy.

Variance analysis

A method of budgetary control that compares actual performance against plan, investigates the causes of the variance and takes corrective action to ensure that targets are achieved.

Portfolio

A collection of securities and investments held by an investor

Portfolio Diversification

See diversification

Portfolio Weight

The percentage of a total portfolio represented by a single specific
security. It is calculated by dividing the value of the investment in a
specific security by the value of the investment in the total portfolio.

Variance

The weighted average of the squared deviations from the
expected value

budget variance

the difference between total actual overhead
and budgeted overhead based on standard hours allowed
for the production achieved during the period; computed
as part of two-variance overhead analysis; also
referred to as the controllable variance

controllable variance

the budget variance of the two variance approach to analyzing overhead variances

fixed overhead spending variance

the difference between the total actual fixed overhead and budgeted fixed overhead;
it is computed as part of the four-variance overhead analysis

fixed overhead volume variance

see volume variance

labor efficiency variance

the number of hours actually worked minus the standard hours allowed for the production
achieved multiplied by the standard rate to establish
a value for efficiency (favorable) or inefficiency (unfavorable)
of the work force

labor mix variance

(actual mix X actual hours X standard rate) - (standard mix X actual hours X standard rate);
it presents the financial effect associated with changing the
proportionate amount of higher or lower paid workers in production

labor rate variance

the actual rate (or actual weighted average rate) paid to labor for the period minus the standard rate multiplied by all hours actually worked during the period;
it is actual labor cost minus (actual hours X standard rate)

labor yield variance

(standard mix X actual hours X standard rate) - (standard mix X standard hours X standard rate);
it shows the monetary impact of using more or fewer total hours than the standard allowed

material price variance

total actual cost of material purchased
minus (actual quantity of material  standard
price); it is the amount of money spent below (favorable)
or in excess (unfavorable) of the standard price for the
quantity of materials purchased; it can be calculated based
on the actual quantity of material purchased or the actual
quantity used

material quantity variance

(actual quantity X standard price) - (standard quantity allowed  standard price);
the standard cost saved (favorable) or expended (unfavorable)
due to the difference between the actual quantity
of material used and the standard quantity of material
allowed for the goods produced during the period

material mix variance

(actual mix X actual quantity X standard price) - (standard mix X actual quantity X standardprice);
it computes the monetary effect of substituting a nonstandard mix of material

material yield variance

(standard mix X actual quantity X standard price) - (standard mix X standard quantity X standard price);
it computes the difference between the
actual total quantity of input and the standard total quantity
allowed based on output and uses standard mix and
standard prices to determine variance

noncontrollable variance

the fixed overhead volume variance;
it is computed as part of the two-variance approach to overhead analysis

overhead efficiency variance

the difference between total budgeted overhead at actual hours and total budgeted
overhead at standard hours allowed for the production
achieved; it is computed as part of a three-variance analysis;
it is the same as variable overhead efficiency variance

overhead spending variance

the difference between total actual overhead and total budgeted overhead at actual
hours; it is computed as part of three-variance analysis; it
is equal to the sum of the variable and fixed overhead
spending variances

total overhead variance

the difference between total actual overhead and total applied overhead; it is the amount of underapplied or overapplied overhead

total variance

the difference between total actual cost incurred
and total standard cost for the output produced during
the period

variable overhead efficiency variance

the difference between budgeted variable overhead based on actual input activity and variable overhead applied to production

variable overhead spending variance

the difference between total actual variable overhead and the budgeted amount of variable overhead based on actual input activity

variance

a difference between an actual and a standard or
budgeted cost; it is favorable if actual is less than standard
and is unfavorable if actual is greater than standard

variance analysis

the process of categorizing the nature (favorable or unfavorable) of the differences between standard and actual costs and determining the reasons for those differences

volume variance

a fixed overhead variance that represents
the difference between budgeted fixed overhead and fixed
overhead applied to production of the period; is also referred
to as the noncontrollable variance

Covariance

A measure of the degree to which returns on two assets move in
tandem. A positive covariance means that asset returns move together; a
negative covariance means they vary inversely.

Variance

The dispersion of a variable. The square of the standard deviation.

Direct materials mix variance

The variance between the budgeted and actual mixes of
direct materials costs, both using the actual total quantity used. This variance isolates
the unit cost of each item, excluding all other variables.

Labor efficiency variance

The difference between the amount of time that was budgeted
to be used by the direct labor staff and the amount actually used, multiplied
by the standard labor rate per hour.

Labor rate variance

The difference between the actual and standard direct labor rates
actually paid to the direct labor staff, multiplied by the number of actual hours
worked.

Materials price variance

The difference between the actual and budgeted cost to
acquire materials, multiplied by the total number of units purchased.

Materials quantity variance

The difference between the actual and budgeted quantities
of material used in the production process, multiplied by the standard cost per
unit.

Production yield variance

The difference between the actual and budgeted proportions
of product resulting from a production process, multiplied by the standard unit cost.

Selling price variance

The difference between the actual and budgeted selling price for
a product, multiplied by the actual number of units sold.

market portfolio

portfolio of all assets in the economy. In practice a broad stock market index, such as the Standard & Poor's Composite, is used to represent the market.

variance

Average value of squared deviations from mean. A measure of volatility.

Minimum Wage

An hourly wage rate set by the federal government below
which actual hourly wages cannot fall. This rate can be increased by state governments.

Minimum inventory

An inventory item’s budgeted minimum inventory level.

Market Portfolio

The total of all investment opportunities available to the investor.

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