Glossary

The interest rate the U.S. government pays to borrow for ten years. Mortgage rates and corporate bonds are priced from it.

An even vote among eight justices. The lower court's ruling stands, but the Supreme Court sets no precedent and the question stays open nationally.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Union's public-health agency, which coordinates outbreak responses among member states.

The body of law that bars mergers and conduct that substantially reduce competition. Federal agencies and state attorneys general can sue to block or reshape a deal.

In German law, a step toward an act meant to undermine the state's security or constitutional order, such as passing state secrets that endanger external security.

A reaction whose product speeds up the reaction that makes it, a feedback loop. In asymmetric autocatalysis the product also favors its own mirror-image form, so a slight excess of one hand grows toward 100%.

Hundredths of a percentage point. 25 basis points is a quarter point.

The North Sea crude benchmark used to price most of the world's oil. West Texas Intermediate is the U.S. benchmark and usually trades a few dollars lower.

In Tennessee and a few other states, a trial court that hears equity cases: injunctions, orders to preserve or produce things, disputes over state agencies. Its judges are called chancellors.

The property of a molecule that exists in two mirror-image forms, like left and right hands, that cannot be superimposed. Living things use only one form of each: left-handed amino acids, right-handed sugars.

The 1970 federal law under which the EPA regulates air pollution, including greenhouse gases since a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.

A federal crime of agreeing, while in the U.S., with others to commit murder abroad and taking at least one step toward it. It reaches people who never leave the country.

A military criminal trial, run under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with a panel of service members as jurors.

Untaxed diesel colored red for off-road use on farms, construction sites and boats. Using it on a highway normally brings fines.

A company's profit divided by its shares outstanding. Index-wide growth in it is the main fuel for stock prices over time.

A severe viral disease spread by direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a sick person or a body. It is not airborne. Symptoms appear 2 to 21 days after exposure.

A body set up to insulate a newsroom's decisions from its owner. Its power depends on who appoints its members and what it can veto.

Increasing the share of uranium-235 in uranium so it can fuel reactors (about 3–5%) or, at 90%, a weapon. Iran has enriched to 60%, a level with no civilian use that is a short step from weapons grade.

The value of a company's shares plus its debt, minus its cash. It approximates the full price of buying the business.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the federal law governing private-sector pension and 401(k) plans and the duties of those who run them.

A tax on a specific good, collected per unit, such as cents per gallon of fuel. Federal fuel excise taxes fund the Highway Trust Fund.

A directive from the president to federal agencies. It can change how laws are enforced but cannot change tax law itself, which is why taxes can be deferred but not repealed this way.

Judge-made federal rules in narrow areas such as disputes between states over pollution. Where Congress legislates, it is usually displaced.

The overnight rate at which banks lend reserves to each other, which the Fed steers to a target range. It is the base from which savings, credit-card and short-term loan rates move.

The daily official journal of the U.S. government, where proposed and final rules are published. A rule's comment period and effective date run from its publication date.

People legally bound to act in someone else's best interest. Under federal law, those who choose a 401(k) plan's investments owe workers duties of prudence and loyalty.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting body: the seven governors plus five of the twelve regional bank presidents vote; all nineteen take part. It meets eight times a year and publishes minutes three weeks later.

Gross domestic product, the total value of goods and services produced in a country. In the U.S. it is reported quarterly at an annualized rate.

A unit of power equal to 1,000 megawatts, roughly the output of one large nuclear reactor. A gigawatt can supply several hundred thousand homes.

A petition asking a federal court to rule that a prisoner is held unlawfully. It is the usual last route to challenge a death sentence after direct appeals end.

A National Hurricane Center alert that hurricane conditions, sustained winds of 74 mph or more, are possible in the area within 48 hours. A warning means they are expected within 36 hours.

A neutrino observatory at the South Pole: thousands of light sensors frozen into a cubic kilometer of ice, completed in 2011 and run by the University of Wisconsin–Madison with the National Science Foundation.

The phrase the Court uses when it dismisses a case after agreeing to hear it, often because of a procedural problem. No ruling on the merits is made.

Buyers who bid at a Treasury auction through a dealer rather than directly, a group dominated by foreign central banks and overseas funds. Their share is read as a gauge of foreign demand for U.S. debt.

A protein pore in a cell membrane that opens to let charged atoms pass, which is how nerve cells fire.

A commodity-data company that tracks tankers by satellite and shipping records to estimate oil exports in close to real time.

A comparison investment with similar goals and strategy, which many courts require before a worker can claim a 401(k) fund underperformed.

The Fed's written account of a policy meeting, published about three weeks afterward. It records the range of views without naming speakers, using 'most,' 'many,' 'several' and 'a few' as a rough head count.

An index of more than 3,000 stocks listed on the Nasdaq exchange, weighted toward technology companies.

The use of warships to stop vessels entering or leaving an enemy's ports. It is an act of war under international law.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, which requires federal agencies to study the environmental effects of major actions before taking them. It mandates a process, not an outcome.

A subatomic particle with almost no mass and no electric charge that rarely interacts with matter; trillions pass through each person every second. High-energy neutrinos travel straight from their source, unbent by magnetic fields.

A program letting international students on F-1 visas work in their field in the U.S. for 12 months after graduating, or 36 months for STEM degrees. It is the usual route from an American degree to an H-1B work visa.

A method that puts light-sensitive proteins into chosen nerve cells so researchers can switch them on or off with light.

A technical term for stocks that have fallen fast enough that some indicators suggest a rebound is due. When an index is at a record while many of its members look oversold, the gains are concentrated in a few stocks.

A barbiturate sedative, used in veterinary euthanasia and, since 2010, in single-drug lethal injections by most death-penalty states. States buy it from compounding pharmacies whose identities they keep secret.

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for all or part of 13 states and Washington, D.C., from Illinois to New Jersey. It runs the wholesale power market and the capacity auctions that set part of consumers' bills.

A claim that a defendant unreasonably interfered with a right shared by the public, such as health or safety. It was used against lead paint and opioid makers.

The highest level an index has ever finished a trading day at. Intraday highs do not count; only the 4 p.m. closing level does.

Withdrawn from a case by a judge, usually because of a financial interest, a past role or a relationship. Supreme Court justices decide for themselves and rarely give reasons.

The Reserve Bank of India's policy rate, at which it lends to banks against government securities. The equivalent of the U.S. federal funds rate.

The Serb-majority entity that, with the Bosniak-Croat Federation, makes up Bosnia and Herzegovina under the 1995 Dayton accords. Its leadership is closely aligned with Moscow and Belgrade and has long pushed for secession.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military force separate from the regular army that answers to the supreme leader and runs Iran's naval operations in the Gulf.

The return on an investment with essentially no default risk, usually a Treasury. Stocks are valued by how much more they are expected to earn than it.

The constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Since 2022 courts test gun laws against the nation's historical tradition of regulation.

An election called before it is due, usually by a head of government who has lost a majority or wants a new mandate.

The right to bring a lawsuit, which requires showing a concrete injury caused by the defendant that a court can remedy. A case dismissed for lack of standing is never decided on its merits.

An investigation in which agents or informants pose as accomplices and supply the means for a crime, then arrest the suspect when he accepts them. Courts allow it unless the defendant can show entrapment, that the government induced a crime he was not disposed to commit.

A National Hurricane Center alert that life-threatening inundation from rising seawater is possible within 48 hours. It is issued separately from wind watches because surge can reach far from a storm's center.

The narrow passage between Iran and Oman linking the Persian Gulf to the open sea, through which a large share of world oil exports pass.

A political committee that may raise and spend unlimited sums on elections as long as it does not coordinate directly with a candidate. It must disclose donors but not its consultants' other clients.

The body of law that lets someone harmed by another's conduct sue for money, covering negligence, nuisance, trespass and fraud. It is mostly state law.

The amount by which a country's imports of goods and services exceed its exports in a period. A wider deficit subtracts from measured GDP growth because imports are not domestic production.

An organized system with a closed circulation and winds below 39 mph. At 39 mph it becomes a named tropical storm.

An organized tropical system with sustained winds under 39 mph. At 39 mph it becomes a named tropical storm; at 74 mph, a hurricane.

Tax-advantaged investment accounts for children under 18, created by the 2025 tax law and launched July 4, 2026. The Treasury seeds eligible children born 2025–2028 with $1,000; families and employers may add money, invested in index funds until the child is an adult.

A British Royal Navy center that receives reports from ships and issues warnings about attacks and threats in the Middle East's sea lanes.

The U.S. Navy's current nuclear-powered attack submarine, built jointly by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls. The Navy wants two a year and has been building about 1.2.

A change in wind speed or direction with height. Strong shear tilts a storm's core and tears it apart, which is why forecasts often show a hurricane weakening just before landfall.