Brings buyers and sellers together. Executes orders usually for a commission. A person/firm that makes a market for securities by buying and selling from their own inventories. Market where prices reflect the knowledge and expectations of all investors. A theory concerning the extent to which information is reflected in security prices and how information gets incorporated into security prices. The first offering of a corporation's stock to the public. Firms that underwrite new security issues. The ability to convert an asset into cash quickly without loss of value. A financial market in which new security issues are sold by companies directly to investors. Market where short-term debt instruments are traded. A financial market in which the owners of outstanding securities can sell them to other investors. Market where equity and debt instruments with maturities of greater than one year are traded. The ease with which a security can be sold and converted into cash