Vocabulary 3 - Acronyms

Acronyms are words that use the first letter of each word in an expression to make a short form or word. You have already learned the acronym for Personal Identification Number, or PIN. Acronyms can be pronounced in different ways. Sometimes the acronym makes a short word that is pronounced like the short word it spells. Other times, the acronym is pronounced by saying the letters of the acronym. Some acronyms are rarely said at all, but are used only as a short form in writing, while the complete words are always said.
Listen to the audio of the following acronyms, then study the notes and definitions below. Repeat the words you hear and listen one more time.

Audio

ATM               [ˌeɪ tiː ˈem]
CD                  [si: di:]
PE                  [pi: I:]
FDIC            ['ef di: ai 'si:]
S&L's            [‘esen’elz]
S&P               ['esen'pi:]
ADR               ['ei di: a:]
CEO               [ˌsiː iː ˈəʊ]
NYSE             New York Stock Exchange
NAV                Net Asset Value
DJIA               Dow Jones Industrial Average
PIN               [pɪn]
NASDAQ        [næsda:k]
AMEX             [æmeks]

Do you know the meanings of any of these acronyms? Study these definitions, then do the exercise.

SEC	[es i: si:]	the Securities and Exchange Commission, a U.S. government agency that checks brokers and the buying and selling activities of securities to see that the law is followed.
ATM	[ei ti: em]	Automated Teller Machine, a machine where you can withdraw money from your bank account.
CD	[si: di:]	Certificate of Deposit, a deposit at a bank that will earn a higher rate of interest than a regular account if the money is kept in the account for a certain length of time.
PE	['pi: i:]	Price Earnings Ratio (P/E), the price of a stock divided by the earnings per share.
FDIC	['ef di: ai 'si:]	Federal Deposity Insurance Corporation, the U.S. government agency that insures commercial and savings banks.
S&L's	[‘esen’elz]	Savings and Loan banks.
S&P	['esen'pi:]	Standard and Poor's 500 is an index of 500 U.S. companies' stock.
ADR	['ei di: a:]	American Depository Receipt, a receipt for shares in a company outside the United States that has an agreement with a bank in the U.S.
CEO	[ˌsiː iːˈəʊ]	Chief Executive Officer, person who is the head of the company's operations.
NYSE		New York Stock Exchange
NAV		Net Asset Value of a share is the value of all the shares in a stock fund less the liabilities and divided by the number of shares.
DJIA		Dow Jones Industrial Average
PIN	[pɪn]	Personal Identification Number, a number that is known only to the owner of an account.
NASDAQ	['næsda:k]	The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation, a computer system that gives brokers and dealers the current prices of the stocks.
AMEX	['æmeks]	American Stock Exchange, much like the NYSE and not really an acronym, it is another stock exchange where stocks of medium and small sized companies are traded.