Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects Definition of Commercial Terms

$ -- means dollars, being a contraction of U.S., which was formerly placed before any denomination of money, and meant, as it means now, United States Currency.

£ -- means pounds, English money.

@ stands for at or to; lb for pounds, and bbl. for barrels; P* for per or by the. Thus, butter sells at 20@30c P* lb, and Flour at $8@$12 P* bbl.

% for per cent., and # for number.

May 1. Wheat sells at $1.20@$1.25, "seller June." Seller June means that the person who sells the wheat has the privilege of delivering it at any time during the month of June.

Selling short, is contracting to deliver a certain amount of grain or stock, at a fixed price, within a certain length of time, when the seller has not the stock on hand. It is for the interest of the person selling "short" to depress the market as much as possible, in order that he may buy and fill his contract at a profit. Hence the "shorts" are termed "bears."

Buying long, is to contract to purchase a certain amount of grain or shares of stock at a fixed price, deliverable within a stipulated time, expecting to make a profit by the rise in prices. The "longs" are termed "bulls," as it is for their interest to "operate" so as to "toss" the prices upward as much as possible.

Note: 'P*' above represents the 'Per' symbol: