Breaking down the four biggest stock market indexes
Investors can use more than one stock market index to measure how they think a particular economy or market is fairing. Some of the indexes compare the average prices of its stocks in order to gauge how well a sector is doing. Others, however, only compare price levels among a subset of stocks in an industry.
Overall, an index gathers data from a class of businesses across industries. Concurrently, that information creates an overview that supports investors in comparing current price levels with past prices to determine market performance. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), which gathers information on about thirty U.S.-based companies, contains thirty stocks overall. It then calculates an average price to track the index's movement over time.
Finding the perfect index is easy when you know how! This article will give you all the tools you need to pick out the best stock fund for your portfolio.
What is a stock market index?
The stock market is a complex, unpredictable place to invest your money. Investing in mutual funds, options, and index funds based on stock market indexes is a great way to get into the investment action without worrying about choosing individual stocks. Overall, it's an intelligent, simple way to get started in the stock market. Not to mention, if you have a lower investment budget, you can get into the action on companies you may not be able to afford individually.
Stock market indexes are created to track performance over time. Because an index spreads out investments among various companies, investors can get a good sense of overall market health by studying them. In other words, how do you know if a stock market is experiencing a bubble or not? That question may seem simple, but it's hard to understand unless you study a specific index for an extended amount of time.
There are several stock market indexes available. Each has its purpose, establishes its terminology, and uses completely different calculations. However, it's essential to realize that each index is independent of the others, so an increase or decrease in one index doesn't mean the same for other indexes.
If you're new to the world of finance, you might be a bit confused by all the different stock market indexes out there. If that's the case, you're not alone. The truth is that these indexes can sometimes seem a bit confusing until you learn more about them and how they work. Thankfully, next, we will dive into the "big four" stock market indexes.
Breaking down the four biggest market indexes: Dow Jones, Nasdaq, S&P 500, Russell 2000
A stock market index measures an economy's stock price levels based on a collection of companies. The major indexes used as economic indicators have been designed to represent the performance potential of the major markets in that country or region.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow is a price-weighted average of the stock prices of 30 of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States, including Apple, Disney, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nike, and Pfizer. It is one of the oldest stock market indexes in existence. Nowadays, it is computed by adding the stock prices of all companies and dividing this sum by a factor that changes as the value of the index changes. The index is maintained by Dow Jones & Company, a financial publishing firm in New York City, which also operates the newswire service Dow Jones Newswires. Studying this index will give you a good sense of the strength of the overall U.S. market based on the top/largest companies.
Nasdaq Composite
The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is home to the majority of tech companies in the world. That's because its comprehensive index includes tech companies and sectors related to tech businesses like biotech, semiconductors, and more. The companies in this stock market index are both U.S.-based and international. The Nasdaq is a market capitalization weight index representing all the stocks listed on the Nasdaq market. Studying this index will give you a good sense of the strength of the tech industry across the world.
S&P 500 Index
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) consists of 500 of the leading companies in leading industries in the United States, representing approximately 80% of the total market capitalization of the Value Line "Large Company" stock universe. Thus, the S&P 500 is known in the marketplace as one of the most important stock market indexes for U.S. equities. The index was developed by Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., and is maintained by its S&P Dow Jones Indices division.
Russell 2000
The Russell 2000 Index (RUT) is a capitalization-weighted index of small-capitalization companies. It is maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group. It comprises the smallest 2,000 companies from the Russell 3000, an index of the 3,000 largest United States stocks by market capitalization. The Russell 2000 is one of the most valuable indices to watch when examining the broader stock market's performance, as it represents many of the largest companies that are focused on U.S. markets. It is also helpful to investors looking at their portfolios because many small-cap companies are growing faster than their larger peers.
Why invest in a stock market index?
Investing in individual stocks can seem like a daunting task, especially for beginner investors. However, there's an effortless and reasonable way to earn substantial profits - invest in index funds that track the stock market indexes you're most interested in.
The benefits of index funds are numerous. They tend to carry low management fees, are transparent in how they're managed, and give investors exposure to well-known investment vehicles without researching individual companies. In addition, since index funds are passive by nature and often follow specific companies or a stock market index, they usually generate relatively small capital gains distributions taxed at the lower long-term capital gains tax rate.
Overall, The stock market is a fantastic way to build wealth over time through wise investing. You can invest in individual stocks or choose a more straightforward, more cost-effective approach by investing in index funds that match the overall market's performance.