- squeeze
- Period when stocks or commodities ( commodity) futures increase in price and investors who have sold short must cover their short positions to prevent loss of large amounts of money. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary
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▪ I. squeeze squeeze 1 [skwiːz] verb [transitive]1. ECONOMICS to strictly limit the amount of money that is available to a company or organization:• Health care spending is being squeezed.
• The firm says that its profit margin is getting squeezed by rising costs for its primary raw material.
2. squeeze something out of/from something to get the most you possibly can from something:• Johnson was known to squeeze every dollar out of every contract.
• Company managers can squeeze more from their capital assets if they choose markets carefully and set clearer goals.
to make it difficult for someone to continue in business, by doing things to attract their customers:• The big operators are squeezing the independents out of the markets.
[m0] ▪ II. squeeze squeeze 2 noun [countable usually singular]ECONOMICS FINANCE a situation in which wages, prices, borrowing money etc are strictly limited, especially by a government in order to control inflation:• The union is protesting against the 1.5% pay squeeze.
squeeze on• a squeeze on gross margins
ˈcredit ˌsqueeze ECONOMICSa period of time when the government strictly limits the amount of lending that banks are allowed to do, leading to businesses and individuals having difficulty getting loans and paying more interest on them:• Consumer demand has collapsed as a result of the credit squeeze.
ˈprofit ˌsqueeze FINANCEa period of time when a company is making less profit than usual:• The chief financial officer warned of a further profit squeeze if it can't raise prices enough to offset rising raw material costs.
— see also bear squeeze, short squeeze* * *
When prices are being forced up or down as investors rush to cut their losses. A short squeeze is when prices rise sharply as investors cover short positions by buying shares. A squeeze is also used to describe when any commodity is in short supply or a period when monetary policy is tight.* * *
Ⅰ.squeeze UK US /skwiːz/ verb [T] FINANCE, ECONOMICS► to reduce the amount of money that a person, company, or government can spend or earn: »Higher energy and utility bills are squeezing disposable incomes.
»squeeze profits/budgets/margins
squeeze taxpayers/consumers/borrowers »Rising food prices continue to squeeze consumers ever harder.
► to reduce the number of things that are produced or sold: squeeze supplies/exports »European exports have been squeezed by the cheap dollar and equally cheap Chinese yuan.
Ⅱ.squeeze UK US /skwiːz/ noun [C, usually singular] FINANCE, ECONOMICS► a large reduction in the amount of money that a person, company, or government can spend or earn: a budget/spending/cash squeeze »Hard choices have to be made during a budget squeeze.
»an economic/financial/monetary squeeze
a squeeze on sth »A squeeze on earnings is expected to be highlighted in official labour market figures this week.
put a/the squeeze on sb/sth »Competition from discount operations is putting the squeeze on mid-market chains.
a squeeze in margins/markets/profits »A squeeze in the global credit market has forced the company to scrap plans to sell its US drinks division.
feel/face a squeeze »A series of reports last week suggests that financial institutions will feel the squeeze on their balance sheets well into next year.
Financial and business terms. 2012.
