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You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
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C
Capacity Utilization
A measure of how fully the productive capacity of an economy or industry is being used at any time as a percentage of the maximum sustainable output. The US Federal Reserve issues a monthly report on Capacity Utilization, covering manufacturing, mining, and utilities. A reading of 80% means the industry is running at four-fifths of what it could theoretically produce if pushed to its limits.
The indicator is important for two reasons. First, it is a leading indicator of inflation pressure. The capacity utilisation rises to around 85%, and above producers start to run into physical and labour constraints. This means producers have pricing power. They can raise prices because buyers have nowhere else to go. Central banks track it as a measure of how much slack there is still left in the economy. Second, it signals possible capital expenditure. Companies with high utilisation tend to invest in new capacity; those running well below it do not.
One of the clearest real economy confirmations that demand has actually collapsed is the falling capacity utilization during recessions.
Example: In the 2008-09 recession, US capacity utilisation dropped from 77% to below 65%, the lowest reading on record. That figure told economists precisely why deflation was more of a worry than inflation in the years of recovery. Factories operating at 65% don’t raise prices. They lower prices to get volume back.
Cape Verde Escudos (CVE)
The official currency of Cape Verde, an Atlantic island nation off the Cape Verdean escudo. The escudo has been pegged to the euro since 1999 (it was previously pegged to the Portuguese escudo) at a rate of about 110.27 CVE to the euro. The peg is backed by a cooperation agreement with Portugal and, through it, the European Central Bank. It is one of the most stable currency arrangements in Africa.
Cape Verde’s small, tourism-driven, import-dependent economy could not generate a degree of monetary credibility on its own. The fixed rate provides that. Inflation is contained, the cost of imports is predictable, and the country escapes the currency swings that can eat into tourism revenues in competing destinations. Like all pegs, the trade-off is that Cape Verde imports ECB monetary policy regardless of local conditions.
The CVE is not actively traded on an international level. Due to the peg and the close economic ties with Portugal and the eurozone, most foreign exchange transactions in Cape Verde are done directly in euros.
Example: A hotel developer on Sal island pricing a multi-year construction project can invoice material imports from Portugal in euros and receive revenue from European tourists in euros, with the CVE peg completely eliminating exchange-rate risk on both legs. It is the predictability that is the economic justification for keeping the peg, whatever the theoretical cost to monetary sovereignty.
Capital
Funds allocated for expenditure, such as to perform trading activities.
Capital Account
A component of the balance of payments that records movements of capital assets between a country and the rest of the world. It is a different thing from the financial account, which covers investment flows, and it is much smaller. The capital account covers things like debt forgiveness between governments, transfers of fixed assets by migrants moving between countries and the purchase or sale of non-produced, non-financial assets such as land sold to foreign entities or rights over natural resources.
In most developed economies, the capital account is virtually zero and seldom discussed. It is conceptually important because it completes the accounting identity: current account plus capital account plus financial account has to add up to zero. In the framework, every surplus somewhere funds a deficit somewhere.
The term “capital account” is often used loosely to mean more generally cross-border investment flows, which is technically the financial account. The vagueness is common even among finance experts.
Example: When a Kenyan family emigrating to Canada transfers ownership of its Nairobi property to a foreign buyer and moves the proceeds abroad, that transaction runs through the capital account, a cross-border transfer of a real asset rather than a financial investment. It’s a small line item in the aggregate, but a meaningful one at the household level.
Capital Gains Tax
A tax on the profit earned by selling an asset for a price higher than it was purchased. The taxable gain is the difference between the proceeds of sale and the original cost basis. Many different types of assets can be subject to capital gains tax (CGT), including equities, bonds, real estate, cryptocurrency, business interests and collectibles, although rates, exemptions and the way losses are treated vary greatly depending on where you are.
There are two distinctions that matter most for investors. First is realised vs unrealised: CGT only applies when you sell. The “lock-in effect” is when investors hold appreciated assets longer than they otherwise would to avoid crystallising a tax liability. Holding a position with a large paper gain defers the tax indefinitely. Second, short-term versus long-term: many jurisdictions tax gains on assets held longer than a year at lower rates than short-term gains, incentivising patient capital over speculation.
CGT changes are political and market-sensitive. Expected rate hikes lead to pre-emptive selling; dips promote realization of delayed gains.
Example: A South African trader sells shares held for two years and makes a profit of R200,000. SARS taxes individual capital gains at an inclusion rate of 40%, so R80,000 would be taxable at your marginal income rate. Basic financial hygiene is knowing the after-tax return before you enter a position and it’s widely skipped.
Capital Return
The return on the investment resulting from fluctuations in the underlying asset’s value, such as the price change of a stock.
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