Stock market glossary
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Stock market index
A stock market index measures the performance of a group of securities, for example a country's largest companies: it is a market's thermometer.
The FTSE MIB tracks the 40 largest Italian companies, the DAX the German ones, the S&P 500 the 500 largest US companies. When people say "the market went up", they usually mean the main index. Indices also serve as a benchmark: a good investor compares their results with those of the market.
💡 Fanta-Trade shows a real-time map of indices around the world, coloured according to the day's performance.
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