The Federal Reserve Board requires long equity margin accounts maintain a balance of 50% equity, 50% margin debt.

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Options and futures often carry higher commissions than equity trades and investors in futures will be required to maintain a minimum margin.

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Another advantage for Werner is the way it has used fuel surcharges to help maintain its profit margin, which averaged 8.1% for the first nine months of 2004, but hit 9.3% in the third quarter.

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