B. A stock broker's excessive trading of a customer's account to earn more commissions rather than to further the customer's interests.
Listen to pronunciationLegal Definition - 1. securitities. A stockbroker's excessive trading of a customer's account to earn more commissions rather than to further the customer's interests ;an abuse of the customer's confidence for personal gain by frequent and numerous transactions that are disproportionate to the size and nature of the customer's account. - Under securities law the practice is illegal. Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
Recent Usage - "Take a stroll down Wall Street and listen intently, and you might hear the sound of stockbrokers and money managers shaking and shuffling your portfolio. The system is flawed, both for stockbrokers and mutual fund managers, and as a result the portfolios of individual investors can suffer. Billions of dollars are lost each year due to churning. Churning is also a problem in the mutual-fund industry. Fund managers are so pressured to beat the market over short periods that they can’t simply be patient with solid investments that are temporarily doing poorly. Mutual funds that buy and sell often have what is called a high 'turnover rate.' It shouldn’t surprise you that the funds with the highest turnover rates are often those that consistently lose to the market. The Motley Fool Monday, March March 6 2006
Non-legal usage - Churning is the process of agitating cream to make butter. It is used in the sense of a liquid being stirred violently to produce froth or foam.
If you are nervous and have an upset stomach, you might say that your stomach is churning.
To churn something out means to reproduce something rapidly without concern for quality.