Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Index
The S&P 500 is a market-value-weighted index of 500 widely held large-cap U.S. common stocks. A committee decides which companies are represented in the index, based on each one's market cap ($4 billion plus), liquidity, and financial viability. It also tries to maintain a representative weighting of industries. Because it represents about 75% of the total market, the S&P 500 is considered a broader representation of the U.S. equity markets than the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
The DJIA, also called simply the Dow, is a price-weighted average of 30 well-known, actively traded stocks such as AT&T, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Exxon, General Motors, IBM, and McDonald's. Though the Dow is the oldest and best-known stock index, it represents less than 25% of the market value of all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to serving as a proxy for the performance of blue-chip industrial stocks, it has given rise to several investing strategies based on Dow stocks.
Nasdaq Composite Index
The Nasdaq index includes all 3,000-plus foreign and domestic stocks traded on the Nasdaq system, an electronic network of securities dealers. The market value-weighted index includes many high-tech companies whose stocks first began trading after the Nasdaq system was launched in 1971.
Wilshire 5000 Equity Index
The Wilshire 5000 includes not only common stocks but also real estate investment trusts (REITs) and master limited partnerships. Because almost all actively traded U.S. securities are included in it, it is considered the broadest U.S. equity index. However, because it is weighted by market capitalization, the Wilshire's largest stocks account for the bulk of its total market cap and greatly affect its performance.
Russell 2000 Index
The Russell 2000 is a market cap-weighted index of approximately 2,000 stocks with market caps of less than $3 billion. It includes the smallest stocks represented in the Russell 3000 Index, another large domestic-stock index, and is often used as a benchmark for small-cap stocks.
MSCI EAFE Index
The EAFE (short for Europe/Australia/Far East), a market cap-weighted index of stocks in non-U.S. countries,focuses on stocks in large industrialized nations. It tends to be less volatile than indexes such as the S&P/IFCI, which focuses on securities in developing countries.
Watch Your Weight
Remember, indexes are generally either price weighted or market cap weighted. With a price weighted index, the highest-priced stocks have the most impact. By contrast, an index based upon market capitalization reflects the relative size of each company. Stocks with a larger market cap have more influence than smaller companies.
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