Monday, January 18, 2010

Learn to Read Stock Market Quotes Before Investing

If you are going to be an investor, you need to learn to read stock market quotes. The standard quote box has 10 columns. This article will look at each column so that you can learn to read them.

The first box is the 52 week high price. The second column is the 52 week low price. If these two numbers are relatively close, you have a stock that is not fluctuating much over time. If, however, you see a 25 percent or more difference, you know that something is going on with the company. Compare those two boxes with column 3 which is the current price. See whether the current price is more closely aligned with the high or low price.

The fourth column is the symbol for the company. This is generally a 3 or 4 letter term and each company's symbol is unique. For instance, Microsoft is MSFT and McDonalds is MCD.

The fifth column is the dividend amount while the sixth one is the dividend yield which is the amount an investor should earn on each share of stock.

Next up is the price to earnings ratio. This is determined by dividing the stock's price by the company's per-share earnings for the most recent 4 quarters.

The 8th box is the trading volume which is the amount of shares sold the day before in thousands.

Column 9 is the high/low for the day before so that you can see how much movement there was then.

Finally, number 10 is the close and net change. This lets you know where the stock ended up at the end of the day.

If you want to be a savvy investor, you need to learn to read stock market quotes.

If you are just beginning to learn to read stock market quotes, you should check out the Daily Market Predictions at http://neuralindex.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Simons

Friday, November 20, 2009

Stock Market Guide For Beginners!

A great article for stock market newbies below. This article has some really good stock market investment strategies.

Beginner's Guide to Stock Market

First, they need people to take them by their hands and learn all about the risks and opportunities of stock market investment. They can do that by learning from their friends who are good at investment, reading investment books, attending investment seminars. Signing up, and playing for free, online simulation games is a great help to feel the pulse of the market movements.

Second, count their money to see whether they have surplus funds to invest. Investing surplus funds as opposed to putting their entire savings into the market will enable them to sleep well at night. However, if their surplus funds got stuck in their investment in an adverse market condition, they would still be able to live theirs lives as usual.

Third, choosing stocks with the potential for income and capital appreciation is important. Choose stock with long history of good dividend payouts and steady price appreciation would be a safer investment decision. Some " blue chips" stocks would fit in this category.

Fourth, knowing when to buy and when to sell is crucial when you put their money into the market. Buy low sell high would be the preferred investment strategy. Following the footstep of Warren Buffet, the guru of stock market investing, would produce positive results.

Fifth, start investing in small amount in "blue chip" stock, enjoy the dividend payout and capital appreciation. You will then become more confident in the stock market after experiencing from you small investment that there is money to be made in the stock market. Over time, increase their investments. If they stick to their " buy low and sell high " investment strategy, they would make a good start at stock market investment.

Chin M C is a Finance and Business Accountant who writes about how people earn, save, spend and invest their Money. BizCom Management

Monday, November 16, 2009

Read The Stock Market

Some great stock market investment strategies below, this article shows you how to read the market!

Effective Guide on How to Read the Stock Market

Savvy investors know that a considerable knowledge on how to read the stock market is highly necessary to succeed in stock market business. Though the data in the stock chart is not very accurate, how the investors utilize their technical ability to analyze the data found in the chart can make or break their investments.

The stock market chart comprises the data of prices and values of stocks that have been recorded over some period of time. As you may notice in the chart, you can find the prices at the vertical axis while time is can be found at the horizontal part of the chart.

The time sequence is arranged accordingly from the past up to the present. Investors will find the stock, option, commodity with its respective prices over some period of time. With those mentioned data, you may form your own technical analysis and calculated conclusion as basis of your investment decision.

Three popular stock market charts today are the following: the Line Chart, the Bar Chart and the Candlestick Chart.

Firstly, the Line Chart represents the most basic form among the three. It simply displays the prices and its respective time when the stock price was closed. Traders use this kind of chart for closing point references as well as when the latest data is not yet available.

Secondly, the Bar Chart indicates the initial prices traded during the bar. That is the highest or the lowest price traded as well as the last price traded. The timeframe found in the bar chart can be set to the earliest up to the recent trading activities in the stock market.

Finally, the Candlestick Chart shows you the prices from the highest to the lowest that have been recorded over a period of time. You can easily notice the movement and differences during the trading activities as represented by a color system.

You certainly would want to invest on some business that does not need you to come to the office regularly and yet earn as much as you deserve. Actually, this is what is happening in the Stock Market. But it is important to understand and learn How To Read The Stock Market so you know where your money is going.

http://www.tradestocksamerica.com can give you a better view on this.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Guide to Stock Market Depressions

10 Worst Stock Market Crashes

10th Worst Stock Market Crash (1932 – 1933): This crash required the longest recovery time of all the 10 crashes. The combination of the tech bubble bursting and the September 11th terrorist attack served a deadly blow to the stock market, but relative to markets past, this was a minor one. Date Started: 1/15/2000 Date Ended: 10/9/2002

Total Days: 999 Starting DJIA: 11,792.98 Ending DJIA: 7,286.27 Total Loss: -37.8%

9th Worst Stock Market Crash (1916 – 1917): This market suffered about a 40% loss. Date Started: 11/21/1916 Date Ended: 12/19/1917 Total Days: 393 Starting DJIA: 110.15 Ending DJIA: 65.95 Total Loss: -40.1%

8th Worst Stock Market Crash (1939 to 1942): It was one of the most grueling. It took nearly 3 years to recover from this crash! With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the markets had a very tough time. Date Started: 9/12/1939 Date Ended: 4/28/1942

Total Days: 959 Starting DJIA: 155.92 Ending DJIA: 92.92 Total Loss: -40.4%

7th Worst Stock Market Crash (1973-1974): Another long market crash -one that many people still remember (think Vietnam and the Watergate scandal). This crash lasted for 694 days before bottoming out. Date Started: 1/11/1973 Date Ended: 12/06/1974 Total Days: 694 Starting DJIA: 1051.70 Ending DJIA: 577.60 Total Loss: -45.1%

6th Worst Stock Market Crash (1901 – 1903): This is the oldest crash to make the list (DJIA records are not available before 1900). Date Started: 6/17/1901 Date Ended: 11/9/1903 Total Days: 875 Starting DJIA: 57.33 Ending DJIA: 30.88 Total Loss: -46.1%

The 5th worst stock market Crash (1919 – 1921): This crash followed a post war boom (Stock prices rose 51%). After the crash bottomed out in August of 1921, this decade saw tremendous growth in the stock market and the economy (often called the roaring twenties). Date Started: 11/3/1919 Date Ended: 8/24/1921

Total Days: 660 Starting DJIA: 119.62 Ending DJIA: 63.9 Total Loss: -46.6%

The 4th worst stock market crash in U.S. History Although this is the shortest market crash observed, it was a deadly one. Investors saw almost half their money disappear in just two months. This crash started the "Great Depression." Date Started: 9/3/1929 Date Ended: 11/13/1929

Total Days: 71 Starting DJIA: 381.17 Ending DJIA: 198.69 Total Loss: -47.9%

3rd Worst Stock Market Crash (1906 – 1907): This crash was called the "Panic of 1907." The U.S. Treasury department bought 36 million dollars worth of government bonds to offset the decline Date Started: 1/19/1906 Date Ended: 11/15/1907

Total Days: 665 Starting DJIA: 75.45 Ending DJIA: 38.83 Total Loss: -48.5%

2nd Worst Stock Market Crash (1937 – 1938): Just when investors thought the market was finally good again, following a recovery of almost half of the great depression losses, the market plunged again due to war scare and Wall street scandals. Date Started: 3/10/1937 Date Ended: 3/31/1938

Total Days: 386 Starting DJIA: 194.40 Ending DJIA: 98.95 Total Loss: -49.1%

Worst Stock Market Crash Ever: 1932 Stock Market Crash: Investors lost 86% of their money over this 813 day beast. This market crash combined with the 1929 crash, made up the great depression. The full recovery didn't take place until 1954. Date Started: 4/17/1930 Date Ended: 7/8/1932

Total Days: 813 Starting DJIA: 294.07 Ending DJIA: 41.22 Total Loss: -86.0%

Mansi aggarwal writes about stock market depressions. Learn more at http://www.stockdepression.com

Friday, November 6, 2009

Guide to Investing in the Stock Market

Most of you with money to invest must decide either to "do it yourself" or hire someone else to decide where the money should go. This process of asset allocation always involves placing (usually) the majority of funds in stocks of companies worldwide. The "best" way to accomplish this is certainly subject to argument and controversy; however there is a significant body of academic and historical study that can help.

Here are a number of relatively well accepted facts:

1) Over long periods of time (10 years and more), stocks outperform bonds and cash.

2) Although there may be some actively managed mutual funds and stock pickers that can outperform the indexes that they invest in, it is doubtful that you or anyone else can identify them in advance. It is much more likely that owning a group of stocks in an index (index fund or equivalent) will outperform and cost less than paying someone to pick the "best ones."

3) Investment success is highly correlated with buying when others sell, and vice versa.

4) The above is very hard to do.

Given this information, what is the investor/advisor to do? The facts support so-called "passive" investing, in which funds are placed into low cost, diversified index funds and occasionally rebalanced. This sounds simple, but is misleading. Although investing in different market segments (American Stocks, Overseas stocks, Natural resources stocks, etc.) is probably done most efficiently with indexing-the investor must make the active choice of how much each asset class must be used at any given time.

For example, over the last two years-the Natural Resources and Commodities, and general Overseas market indexes have markedly outperformed the American stock market. How much of your portfolio should have been in the former categories two years ago? How about now? Of your American stock market investments-how much should be in a total market index instead of some other mixture of small vs. large companies?

The point I'm making is that the process of investing and asset allocation is never simple. One must carefully weigh historical valuations, investor risk tolerance, investor time horizons and have some "feel" for future trends to do a good job. This process is being performed by thousands, if not millions of full time professionals worldwide-and is not a process for amateurs. The financial press doesn't help with its myriad lists of "ten best stocks or funds to own now," as study after study has demonstrated that this type of trend following is doomed to failure.

Certainly, there are reasonable compromises that allow an investor to self invest and have probably decent long term returns. However, even these asset allocations require discipline, investigation and review. There is no short cut to investment success. Paying an expert is certainly reasonable, given that we all do so for help with medical, legal and accounting issues on a regular basis.

Summing up, investing in stock markets involves actively choosing an asset allocation, and then usually using a "passive" vehicle (like an index fund) to invest in each of the different asset classes chosen. Both the initial asset allocation and changes in the future require time, work, knowledge and continued learning.

best-way-2-invest.com provides free stock tips and investment advice. Learn the stock market investing basics to protect your money and investments.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Learn Stock Market Trading

Learn Stock Market Trading - A Beginners Guide to Stock Market Trading

Many people want to get into the stock market, in hopes of gaining a more substantial income or a bigger retirement plan. For what ever the reasons are, most people don't have a clue of how to get started and that is why, if your reading this article, we are going to help you get started to learn stock market trading. The first thing you need to know is the stock market is not something you can jump into blindly and it's not something your going to learn over night. If you will follow some very basic information, you will be on your way to learning the stock market trade.

The first thing you need to learn is the lingo of investing topics. You have probably been to a few sites already and may have picked up on a few things. The best way to learn is by going to different sites and familiarizing yourself with the various topics and investment news they're telling you. Websites like "MarketWatch" are good places to start reading up on financial information. The Internet is the best place to learn stock market trading and the best thing of all, it's free. Unless you want to invest more in your financial education, many sites do offer classes for a fee. However, by searching financial websites and learning how to read the charts in the back of the financial section of the newspaper, you can keep your money where it belongs, with you.

The second thing to do is read, read and then read some more, it's the only way your going to learn stock market trading and be good at it. If you don't have the fortitude to do some serious reading, then go to Vegas and try your chances at the gaming tables because you're taking a gamble any other way. There are literally thousands of books about investing and personal finances and your local bookstore and library, (another free learning source by the way), are loaded with these "do-it-yourself" kinds of books. Magazines like "Fortune" and "Business Week" are two very good sources of learning information for starters. Take advantage of all the resources available to you literally at your fingertips.

Once you've found the books, websites, newspapers and magazines that you like the best, familiarize yourself with the information in them, then start looking for the news stories that have investing angles. Investing angles are stories that tell you more than the magazine and news stories tell you. They tell you why a company may or may not do something that could affect its stock price. Newspapers and magazines are good sources of up to date and breaking company news, so always keep your eyes open.

The third thing you need know when you start to learn the stock market is yourself. Take the time to get to know yourself and your relationship with money. No matter how old you are, or how much you've been through, it's a whole different ballgame when it comes to trading your money. Learn how comfortable you are at taking risks, if you don't have respect for your money you better get some quick or your going to find yourself broke before long. Do you know why you want to invest in stocks, bonds or options? Financial security is a great feeling and now you need to find out exactly what it means to You. Taking the time to learn the stock market trade with just these first few things for starters will take you a long and hopefully profitable way to investing in the stock market. Good Luck

Did you know that most of today's top stock traders made it big without prior trading experience? Ben Sterne has been trading stocks for over 17 years and has helped many rookie traders learn the ropes and find success in the stock market. To learn more about Ben's stock trading secrets, visit his personal website here: http://www.stocktradingcash.com

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Stock Market Guide For Investors

How to Start Investing in the Stock Market Guide

Many people want to start investing in the stock market but have no idea how to start investing in the stock market. They fear they will lose tons of money while learning how the stock market works. Well, with this guide, you will learn effectively how to start investing in the stock market!

The first thing you have to realize when learning how to start investing in the stock market is that you do not need a full time broker. The days of hiring a broker to buy and sell for you are over. With great and inexpensive services such as E trade and Scott trade, you can do all of the investing your self! This puts the control of your money in your hands and saves you a lot of money.

The next step in learning how to start investing in the stock market is using a budget. This is very important! Many people find a stock they think will do good and put far to much money into it. Start small and grow as you go. Start with investing maybe $25 or $50 in a stock at a time. This will save you a ton of money and help you gain valuable experience for future big investments. This is a very important step in learning how to start investing in the stock market so do not skip it...

Another important step in learning how to start investing in the stock market is to never jump in blindly. If you find a stock and have a gut feeling it is going to do good, do not rush into it! Take a little time and do some research. Many times a company may be days from releasing some news that may greatly drop your stock price. Makes sure your purchases are well thought out and planed.

The last step of learning how to start investing in the stock market is to know that sometimes things just will not go your way. The stock market is a game and sometimes you lose. With practice and patience you win much more than you lose but that is what it takes.

Learning how to start investing in the stock market is a fun adventure that will make you jump up and down joyously at times, and slap yourself in the forehead at other times. That is part of the journey and that is the really fun part!

While stock market investing can be difficult at times, it can be made much easier with the right resources. If you want to start making money as soon as possible, then please visit "Stock Market Investing" for a great resource to help you along your way!

Thank you for reading and good luck into your investing adventures!