Wages are financial considerations given out to employees as payment for their time and effort of labor. Wages also refers to the compensation given to workers paid by the hour, whereas salary is the word used to describe compensation given out to employees. Compensation, like wages, proves to be monetary payments that employers give out to employees in exchange for [...]

Wall Street is a physical street that is seven blocks long and runs from Broadway to the New York East River. It lies to the south of the Manhattan borough of New York City. The street is incredibly significant because it has played host to a number of the most important financial entities in the United States. The city originally [...]

The Wall Street Journal refers to the United States-based and -focused business publication in English. This daily newspaper with an impressive history stretching back well over a century has been based in New York City, the American publishing hub. Fully six days each week, the Journal is published alongside its European and Asian editions. Dow Jones & Company the division [...]

The War Production Board, or WPB, proved to be a one time agency of the United States Federal Government which was established to order and oversee World War II production and materials procurement from January of 1942 by an executive order of the then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The chairman of the board obtained broad and wide ranging powers over the [...]

The man affectionately referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” is Warren Buffett. Buffet has distinguished himself for decades as among the greatest of investment gurus in modern history. He has an earned reputation as one of the most respected businessmen and is consistently ranked as one of the richest people. Besides turning everything he touches into gold, Buffett is [...]

The Wash Sale refers to an IRS Internal Revenue Service code rule that outlaws any taxpayers from utilizing loss sales on securities in what they cleverly call a “wash sale.” The rule essentially explains such a sale as any that occurs as the investor trades or sells securities at a loss within 30 days before or after this particular sale, [...]

Washington Mutual Bank, affectionately referred to as WaMu for decades, used to be the largest savings and loan financial institution in the United States until its spectacular collapse that occurred at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. Ironically, the bank was no longer a mutual company from 1983 onward because of its decision to demutualize and evolve into [...]

Wealth proves to be the abundant possession of material things or other resources that are considered to be valuable. People, areas, communities, or nations who control these assets are said to be wealthy. The word for wealth comes from the old English word ‘Weal’ and ‘th’, which means ‘the conditions of well-being’. The ideas of wealth have great importance for [...]

Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) refers to a calculation of the cost of a capital for a company. It involves every category of the company’s capital being weighed proportionately. Each source of capital for the relevant corporation will be considered by this designation. This means that preferred and common stock, bonds and all types of longer-term debt will all [...]

Welfare is a social program that the government uses to attempt to provide for its citizens’ well being. This could happen with social security, social welfare programs, or even government sponsored financial aid. Corporate welfare is generally described as the government directly supporting companies instead of permitting the free market to close down inefficient businesses. Governments that grow their welfare [...]

Welfare economics concentrates its studies on the best possible allocation for goods and resources in an economy. It looks at the ways that allocating such resources will impact the welfare of overall society. This pertains to the school of thought on the distribution of income and the ways that this will influence the overall good of society. As such this [...]

Wells Fargo has been one of the big four U.S. banks since its acquisition of Wachovia in 2008. This ranks it with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America. The bank grew to be the third biggest U.S. bank counted by assets as of the conclusion of 2015. Ranked by home mortgage servicing, deposits, and debit cards, it is the [...]

The Wells Fargo scandal began because of a high pressure corporate environment where its employees were expected to meet ambitious sales quotas or face demotions or job loss. Over the course of five years, the bank employees opened upwards of two million unauthorized accounts without consulting with their customers. These fraudulent new accounts ran the gamut from checking, to savings, [...]

Wen Jinbao proved to be the sixth Premier of the People’s Republic of China state council. He served in the position as head of government of China during the important decade from 2003 to 2013. While premier, Wen gained the much-deserved reputation as the main figure behind the successful expansionary economic policy of the People’s Republic. During the years 2002 [...]

Western Union proves to be a world-leading provider of global payment options and services. They help customers who range from individuals and families, to small businesses and not for profit NGOs, to international corporations. The company does more than simply help businesses and individuals to move money; they help national and international economies to expand and communities to experience a [...]

The concept of wholesale banking pertains to those banking services which are done between merchant banks or commercial banks and various other financial institutions. This form of banking services has to do with bigger bank clients like enormous corporations or other financial institutions. In contrast, retail banking concentrates on individual clients and small businesses. Such particular banking services cover financing [...]

The Wilshire 5000 Index is also called the Total Stock Market Index. The reason for this impressive sounding name is that its ultimate goal is to track the aggregate returns of most ever publicly traded stock that is based in the United States and trades over one of the major American stock market exchanges. This index is not necessarily the [...]

A wire transfer is the quickest, safest, most reliable means of sending money within the United States, in other countries, or around the world. They are often essential in the more critical financial activities of life such as purchasing a house. The reason larger transactions occur in this form of payment is because the recipient can receive and verify the [...]

Withholding Tax refers to the U.S. Federal income tax which they withhold from the wages of any employee. Employers pay these taxes which they collect from their employees’ payrolls straight to the government. All amounts which they withhold become credited against the employees’ income taxes. This offsets the amount the employees owe throughout the calendar year. This tax is similarly [...]

Working Capital is a company metric. This proves to be a useful corporate measurement for two significant purposes. On the one hand it is a metric for discerning shorter-term financial health. On the other hand, it is also a means of ascertaining the firm’s efficiency. The equation for working capital is current assets minus current liabilities. The working capital ratio [...]

The World Bank proves to be an institution in international finance. It offers developing countries of the planet leveraged loans to help out with funding capital programs. The major goal is to cut down on poverty. Every decision that the organization enacts is required to be carried out with the objectives of encouraging international trade, foreign investment, and facilitate capital [...]

A world currency refers to the idea of there being a single monetary unit that is accepted the world over by all nations, businesses, and peoples. As of 2017 (and probably for the foreseeable future), there is no true world currency. There have been many ideas put forward for a single currency over the last few decades. Among these are [...]

The World Trade Organization, or WTO, proves to be an organization that is intergovernmental in scope and signatories. Its ultimate purpose is to regulate international trade. This WTO began in 1995 on January 1 under the auspices of the Marrakesh Agreement that 123 different nations signed on April 15th of 1994. It then replaced the preexisting General Agreement on Tariffs [...]