Full Employment: Full employment is when all available labor resources are in use in the most economically efficient way. It combines the highest numbers of skilled and unskilled labor that can be employed at any time. Any remaining unemployment would be comprised of workers and companies in transition.
Source: Investopedia
Federal Funds Rate: The interest rate at which a depository institution lends immediately available funds (balances at the Federal Reserve) to another depository institution overnight. Note: The federal funds rate is often confused with the discount rate, which is the interest rate the Federal Reserve charges on loans directly from the Federal Reserve Bank. But they are not the same.
Source: Investopedia, Investing Answers
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC): The branch under the Federal Reserve system that determines interest rates as well as growth or expansion of the money supply in the U.S. Members include seven board of governors and five reserve bank presidents. They typically meet eight times a year.
Source: Investopedia, Wikipedia
Federal Reserve Board: The governing body of the Federal Reserve is made up of seven individuals. The governing board members are appointed by the President of the United States and must be confirmed by the Senate. A full term length is 14 years, and one term begins every two years. A member who serves a full term may not be reappointed but a member who completes an unexpired portion of a term may be reappointed.
Sources: Investopedia, Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve Chairman: The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is appointed by the president and approved by the U.S. Senate. The board is the governing body of the Federal Reserve System, which sets policy for discount rates, reserve requirements and other key economic decisions.
Source: Investopedia
Fiat Currency: legal tender that is not backed by a physical commodity such as gold or silver. The relationship between supply and demand determines the value of fiat currency. Since fiat currency is not linked to a physical commodity, it can become worthless due to inflation. If faith is lost in a nation’s paper currency, then the money ceases to hold value.
Source: Investopedia.com
Fiscal Cliff: A term used by economists regarding the implications of the expiration of income-tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush, the end of payroll-tax reductions and automatic decreases in government expenditures. There is concern that the combined effect of spending cuts and tax increases will be a clip of 3 percentage points from growth if allowed by Congress and the President to occur in 2013.
Source: Wikipedia
Flash Crash: Quick drop-and-recover in securities prices that occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m. EST on May 6, 2010. Initial reports indicating that the crash was caused by a mistyped order proved to be erroneous. The causes of the flash crash remain unknown. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have investigated the incident and released a report that provided several working hypotheses, but failed to identify a single cause for the incident.
Source: Investopedia