What does the term S&P 500 mean?  (Not sure of the term, is it SNP500, S&P500, SMP500, etc.)  What is it, thx!
86084
it stands for Standard and Poors 500.. it's a rating of the top five hundred coorpoarations for investors, it's like a stock market thing. kinda like the NASDAQ or dow jones
1085379
It's going down. The fed has made the market to unstable and it's a bad time for it.\nWhich means it may not to a bad time to buy !!!\nThe prices are down and as we all know they will go up in time, So be patient and hold on to what you have and explore the other ideas you have carefully.
623778
If you go to the Yahoo Finance website, type in SPY.  this is the ticker for the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) of the S&P 500.  Many of the constituants of the S&P 500 do not pay dividends.  However, some of the companies do.  The dividend yield is 1.68% for the S&P 500.  If you can't find it I have included the link below.  It will take you directly to the yahoo finance page with thy SPY ticker.  Good luck
426727
PK = PINK sheet\nRecover = recover in price and get listed on a full exchange\n\nThey do, but not often.\n\nFrom my research there have been 3 pink sheet stocks that have converted to a full exchange listing this year (LTEC, IPCS, HOTJ).\n\nHowever, there have been 179 stocks that have converted from a major exchange (AMEX, NASDAQ, OTC) into a Pink Sheet stock this year.\n\nSo the odds are not good for this happening on a purely statistical basis.
2220
Value.\n\n1. One Idea: Rank the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 by P/E ratio.  Buy the ones with the lowest P/E ratio.\n\n2. Better Idea: Buy a value fund listed in Consumer Reports as a good buy.\n\n3. Best Idea: Forget the mumbo jumbo, invest in the Couch Potato Portfolio and do as well as the chumps who deal with all the witchcraft pushed on small investors by stock brokers.
5742
VFINX\n\nthis is the vanguard 500 index fund. it tracks the S&P 500 and basically gives you the same results as "the market". it is low-cost, relatively low-risk, and you don't have to think about it. Just put your yearly contribution into it every year, and you should do just fine. not amazing, but you won't get destroyed as long as you're in it for the long haul.
779073
Allow me to add just a little bit to the first responder. This data is not very helpful in determining good stocks to buy.  The only helpful data presented is the P/E and the dividend and market cap.  The pe only tells you how expensive the stock is in relation to its earnings.  That is helpful.   For example Microsoft is a fairly expensive stock.  The average pe of the S&P 500 is around 17, so MSFT is considerably more expensive than the average.  The pe is sometimes used in conjuction with the expected growth rate.  The pe is divided by the expected growth rate to give a peg ratio. The lower the peg ratio, the better value a stock is considered to be.   The only problem is the expected growth rate may not materialize.   The market cap tells you the total value people have placed on the company.  In general the larger a company the less likely that the company will experience rapid growth but the more likely the company will experience consistantt earnings, with the exception of the U S automotive manufactures. \n\nThe target price is a bunch of crap.  That is the projected price based on analysts' projections.  Most analysts can not find their rears with both hands.  If you look at all the analysts ecommendations for a stock you will find them scattered all over the map, from sell to strong buy, with a preponderance of buy recommendations because that is how brokerage firms make their money, selling stocks.  \n\nYahoo finance has a very decent site for researching stocks.  If you have an on line stock broker, they will also have research materal.  Some more than others.  Fidelity, I believe, has the most.  Fool.com has a CAPS section where you can find out what 26000 investors think are the best stocks to buy and the worst.  I find it very interesting and the basis for further research.
300821
The S&P 500 closed at 1211.92 on 31 December 2004.\n\nIt closed at 1248.29 on 30 December 2005.\n\nTherefore it gained 36.37 points over the year which is a 3.00% rise.\n\nNote that the S&P 500 does _not_ include dividends.\n\nThe S&P 500 Total Return index (which does include dividends) ended 2004 at 1799.55.  It ended 2005 at 1887.93\n which represents a 4.91% increase.\n\nCheers,\nRichard.
85910
- This a lost in Stock Mark Index.\n- It loses 0.49 points.\n--------------
73185
The source is an excellent intro to financial terms, especially the "dictionary" which covers acronyms and phrases.\n\nOff the top of my head:\n\n1. Time value recognizes that value changes with time.  A stock option (to buy or sell stock at a fixed price) is a wasting asset that may be worth less and less as the option date approaches and worth nothing if not exercised.  A contract to erect a building three years from now must recognize that the cost of materials and labor may change by then.\n\n2.  In financial, "discount" can mean that something has been taken into consideration.  The price of a stock today discounted the fact that earnings are expected to double by next year.\n\n3.  As a mortgage is paid off monthly at a fixed amount per month, the debt remaining is less with each payment reducing the interest (but not the interest rate) and more and more of the payments will go to reducing debt as the mortgage is amortized, reduced to zero over time.\n\n4.  Compounding means that if you receive interest on a bank savings account, you also receive interest on any previous interest received and kept in the account.  Compounding may be calculated daily on the account balance (interest posted) or perhaps semi-annually or annually depending on your agreement with the bank.  By extension, If the value of stocks in your IRA increase 10% per year, the value of the investment compounds (Take say $10,000 and multiply it by 0.10 for each year up to your retirement (and it continues to compound as you take out money during retirement).  This is the hidden value in SS personal savings accounts.\n\n5.  Net Present Value relates future value with the present value.  If you invest in IT (information technology) today, what will its future value be to your company, etc.?
188092
Why in the world would you ask a bunch of idiots on Yahoo answers financial advice?  You need to research this yourself or talk to someone who has a license to advise you.\n\nBesides, what stock are you even referring to?
684427
ETF's are (as you say) an index representing a market or sector.\n\nWe have at least 30% of our invested monies in ETF's.  I like the S&P500 and Mid-Cap ETF's the best.  As a general rule I'm not so "high" on "International" and "Small Cap".\n(I believe I can find Managed (low fee) alternatives that perform better).\n\nAs far as sector funds go.....  Sometimes I add sector ETF's when I want to be "overweighted" in a category. These are usually short term "plays" (a year or two max).\n\nAre ETF's good?  If you use them correctly they're terrific. If you don't understand invesing... be careful.
516432
Well basically the Dow Jones or any other index for that matter, are made up of companies that are Blue Chip companies (Dow Jones) and averaged to represent the economy.  S&P is another index that usually has 500 compnaies that are averaged to represent the market as a whole. These indexes are usually taken to compare them to individual investments and how other stocks compare to them in the market. I hope this helps you get the big picture!
661528
Blimey...there is certainly more to you that meets the eye isn't there Mr Raidehz??!! Am completely ignorant on all things business/stock etc...so have to compliment you as I'm sure its all pukka..what you says sounds completely confident and from someone who really knows his stuff...\nSo - a question for you: If I had @ £10,000 to invest, what is the best thing for me to invest it in right now to virtually guarantee good payback within a relatively short timespan......?
55222
There are strong buys and strong sells,\nalso some banks have underperfom, neuteral and  overperformer. S&P stock analysts use stars, 5 the best, 1 the worst. Don't take the analyst reccomendations seriously though. They are out to try to maniupulate the price of a stock more than giving out good advice. Go to yahoo and pick several random stocks, check analyst opinions and look at the stocks history, you would notice that their reccomendations were either random, or they were dead wrong.
953370
www.iii.co.uk      always good discussion boards, and interesting. Coutts bank (the queens' bank) is always right - they predicted the recent fall in shares in advance, but if you had that much money I don't suppose you would be asking questions here....
38598
i think you're referring to the price/earning ratio, a tool used by investors to evaluate the value of a stock.  Here's a link to Investopedia that better explains it: