Stock Ex-date

The ex-date refers to the day when the stock or preferred stock begins trading without rights to the forthcoming dividend. For example, a dividend is declared payable on Jan 14th to holders of record as of Jan 10th. Assuming the 10th is a Thursday, the ex-date in this case would be Tuesday Jan 8 - the first day when buying the shares is too late to entitle you to receive the upcoming dividend.