Investing

iShares are Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) which are constructed like a mutual fund but trade on exchanges any day the market exchanges are open, and are sponsored and administered by Barclays...

The forex market is one of the most heavily traded markets in the world. Any nation state can issue and trade currency; however, there are only a few major currencies which make up the bulk of...

Stock market index funds are known to be one of the easiest and quickest ways to either build your portfolio or diversify your investments. However, if you are going to begin investing in stock...

Beta is a figure used to judge the risk of a particular stock by comparing its price-volatility to that of a chosen benchmark. Beta values range from 0 to 1, with a value of 1 indicating the...

Stock index funds are mutual funds which are designed to perform the same as a stock index, such as the Standard & Poor 500. Index funds buy the stocks which are used to calculate the stock...

Once you have decided on you asset allocation (I am not going to attempt to cover that on Ehow) you will want to choose the best mutual funds to meet your needs. The best mutual fund can be the...

Morningstar is a well known and well respected investment research and analysis firm. Morningstar is most popular for its "star ratings" of mutual funds on a 1-5 star scale. Morningstar provides...

The stock market index is a benchmark, or comparison standard, for particular equity investments. You should become familiar with the world's major indices and how they are calculated, prior to...

Mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs are great ways to maximize diversification in your portfolio while mitigating risk. These are three investment vehicles it pays to learn -- and you can...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a stock market index. It tracks the changes in value of 30 select stocks.

An annuity is an agreement between a person and an insurance company in which the person receives a lump sum payment now or in the future, or a series of payments over time, in exchange for the...

Foreign investments refer to any investment that is located outside the United States. Investors look for foreign investments because they believe that returns might be better due to higher growth...

ETFs ("Exchange Traded Funds") are a lot like stocks. You can buy one with a normal stock brokerage account. However, instead of investing your capital in a company, you are investing...

E-mini contracts are futures contracts offered by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that track several of the major stock indexes. The e-mini futures are smaller contracts than their standard...

Founded in 1971, the NASDAQ is now one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world. It's home to many of the world's best-known technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Intel and...

Comparing the returns of actively managed mutual funds with the stock market indexes show that most managed funds have historically not performed as well as the broad market. Index funds allow...

Index options are option contracts that trade against the price changes of a specific index instead of against specific stocks. Options are contracts to buy or sell the underlying security at a...

UltraShort ETFs from ProShares are exchange traded funds that move up in value at twice the daily rate the corresponding stock index moves down in price. For example, if the S&P 500 loses 1%...

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is similar to a mutual fund in that it pools funds from multiple investors to buy a variety of securities such as stocks, bonds and money market funds, according to...

All investors want to earn a return on their money, and one major choice an investor faces is deciding between an active and passive money management strategy. These two investment approaches are...

Investing in the stock market can be quite rewarding, but it can also be frightening at times. Bear markets are enough to shake the confidence of even the most experienced investor, and many...

Stock market and bond index funds are great for building wealth, but which ones should you choose? Use these steps to pick the best index funds.

An indexed annuity is an investment product that provides a flow of payments to a buyer in return for a lump sum or series of lump sum payments. The flow of payments for an indexed annuity has a...

Index ETFs are relatively new investment products that are growing rapidly in popularity. ETF stands for exchange-traded fund. Today, there are a large number of ETFs that account for a growing...

Many stock indexes, most notably the Dow Jones Industrial Average, are calculated using a price weighting method. This means that the prices of stocks in an index, like the thirty large-cap...

Stock markets around the world have evolved over the past several centuries to a point in which the major markets in New York, London and Tokyo are almost perfectly competitive marketplaces. These...

Despite its recent problems, the stock market remains one of the best places to invest. Unless every company doing business in the United States goes bankrupt, there is little danger that the...

A mutual fund is a collection of stocks, bonds or both. Mutual funds can be index funds, which follow a market index, or they can be actively managed. Index funds sometimes are called passively...

Mutual funds are one of the most common investments. One type of mutual fund is an index fund, which follows the performance of a market index, such as the S&P 500.

Stock market indexes are a useful way to track and follow the trends of the overall market or selected sectors. Investors use indexes to understand what is happening in the overall stock markets....

Investors utilize stock indexes to keep informed of the performance of the overall market or individual sectors, and as a benchmark to monitor performance of their own investments. Stock indexes...

Stock market index options give traders flexibility. Options give them the right to trade an index at a certain price by a specific date. As a result, they have some time in deciding when they...

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are investment vehicles that allow you to hold a diversified portfolio of stocks or track stock market indexes. Mutual funds and ETFs are very...

Especially if you're new to the world of investing, the number of choices available can be confusing and overwhelming. Deciding among stocks, bonds and mutual funds can make even experienced...

The BTK index is a collection of biotechnology stocks, most of which trade on the American Stock Exchange. Biotechnology is one of the most promising industries of the 21st century. It is from...

Exact portfolio allocations will differ based on investor needs, risk tolerance, and other factors. Therefore, it is impossible to recommend what percentage of investment capital to allocate among...

A balanced index fund offers the opportunity to invest in a wide variety of stocks and bonds, reducing investing costs while providing exposure to a number of investments. While you can invest in...

Due to high US government spending, there is potential for the value of the dollar to greatly decrease. This ehow article will give an overview on some of the best ways to combat inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average is one of the primary stock market indexes worldwide. It measures the strength of 30 leading blue-chip companies in the U.S. While it is a fairly accurate market...

A stock index is a group of stocks that is used to represent the move of the larger group of stocks it represents. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an example of a stock index. The Dow is...

When you trade futures contracts, you rarely take possession of the commodity, currency or financial instruments being transacted. That's because you are purchasing the right to buy or sell at a...

Many people are interested in investing in stocks but don't know where to start. With thousands of companies to choose from, lots of economic uncertainty, and the recent bankruptcy of some of the...

Exchange traded funds, or ETFs, provide an easy, alternative way for investors to buy stocks. ETFs gained popularity in the 1990s, and since the introduction of the first ETF, thousands have been...

Investing in the stock market can be a tricky proposition, requiring substantial knowledge and research to find winning securities. Index funds are a way to allow more casual investors to profit...

The value of the overall stock market is expressed through stock market indices. A stock market index allows investors to get a sense about how the overall stock market is performing. The most...

Stock portfolio analysis brings together the inherently conflicting goals of maximizing portfolio return while minimizing risk through risk management and diversification. The measurement of each...

Many people want financial security and be free to do what they want without worrying about money. In order to retire and live comfortably you'll have to start investing your money in order to...

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) monitor the financial performances of the top sustainability-focused companies across the globe. The indexes are a composite of leading companies,...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (the DJIA or Dow), launched in the late 19th century, was the first index ever to track fluctuations in stock prices. In one of his early columns for the Wall...

Until recently, the most popular way to profit from a falling market was to short-sell individual stocks or purchase put options on stocks or major market ETFs. Both short selling and option...