It stands for nonfinancial commercial paper; a commercial paper that is issued by nonfinancial corporations, typically large industrial or services firms and utility companies. This short-term unsecured debt provides an important source of short-term funding for companies with very high credit ratings because it may be considered one of the cheapest sources of external funding. Large nonfinancial institutions can afford to sell paper directly to investors, while small institutions resort to dealers in order to place their issues (a paper issued this way is called a dealer-placed commercial paper). The spread between financial commercial paper and nonfinancial commercial paper reflects the cost of raising capital for financial institutions relative to nonfinancial counterparts.