Stocks
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What are stock indexes?
The indexes are statistical measures of how certain groups of stocks are performing. There are dozens of
different indexes, but the most commonly known include the following:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA or The Dow) — measures the performance of 30 widely traded blue chip
stocks.
- Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stocks Prices Index (S & P 500) — tracks 500 of the largest stocks in
the country, and is a widely-used measure of the overall U.S. equity market.
- NASDAQ Composite Index — tracks the more than 5,000 companies listed on the NASDAQ stock market, and is
heavily weighted toward technology stocks.
- Russell 3000 — tracks the 3,000 largest companies in the U.S.
- Russell 2000 — tracks the 2,000 smallest stocks in the Russell 3,000.
- Russell 1000 — tracks the largest 1,000 stocks in the Russell 3,000.
- Wilshire 5000 — started out tracking 5,000 stocks, but now tracks more than 7,000, covering virtually
every actively traded U.S. stock.
- EAFE (Europe Australasia Far East) — tracks stocks in developed markets in Europe, Australasia and the
Far East.