STOCK
EXCHANGE = NASDAQ = DOW JONES = NIKKEI 225 = S&P 500 = FTSE 100 = CAC 40 = DAX = EAFE =
Author: ELVIO ARMANDO TUOTO ==
A stock market
index is a listing of
stocks, and a statistic reflecting the composite value of its components. Many
indices compiled by news or financial services firms are used to benchmark the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds.
There are many types of stock market indices. The most regularly quoted market indices are broad-base indices including the largest listed
companies on a nation's largest
STOCK exchange, such as the American Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index, the British FTSE 100, the French CAC 40, the German DAX and the Japanese Nikkei 225.
Each of the indices tracks the performance of a specific group of stocks considered to represent a particular market or sector of the U.S. stock market or the economy. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is an index of 30 blue chip U.S. stocks of industrial companies (excluding transportation and utility companies). The S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index is an index of 500 stocks from major industries of the U.S. economy. There are indices for almost every conceivable sector of the economy and stock market.
The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index, as its name implies, represents the stocks of nearly every publicly
traded company in the United States, including all stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange and most traded on the NASDAQ and American Stock Exchange. The Europe, Australia, and Far East Index (EAFE) is a listing of large companies in developed economies in the Eastern Hemisphere.
The Nasdaq-100 Index is a modified capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of a market consisting of the 100 largest and most actively traded non-financial domestic and international securities listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market, based on market capitalization. To be included in the Index, a stock must have a minimum average daily trading volume of 100,000 shares.