8. Understanding the major market indexes

Understanding How Indexes Report Data

The securities market is tracked by a wide variety of indexes, each of which focuses on a different group of stocks.

The following table lists stock quotes from four of the most widely cited indexes: the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, and the AMEX. Each of these numbers is used to capture the performance of on a given day.

Index Quotes

DJIA	NASDAQ-100	S&P 500	NYSE Index
10,837.96 (+140.84)	2,704.88 (+35.21)	1,325.39 (+21.13)	8,074.28 (+91.55)

True or False: Based on the numbers not in parentheses in the previous table, you can tell that S&P 500 stocks were performing roughly half as well as NASDAQ-100 stocks at the time this data was collected.

True

False

Complete the table by indicating the name of the index being described, as well as the number of stocks each index tracks.

Composition	Size	Index
Primarily stocks from the NYSE, but a few NASDAQ stocks as well	stocks
The biggest (non-financial) firms traded on NASDAQ	stocks
All large NYSE stocks, as well as major AMEX and NASDAQ stocks	stocks
All stocks listed on the big board	Over 2,000 stocks

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