Stock Market

The term 'the stock market' is a concept for the mechanism that enables the trading of company stocks (joint shares), opposite securities, and derivatives. Bonds are still traditionally traded in an casual, over-the-counter market known as the bond market. Commodities are traded in commodities markets, and derivatives are traded in a variety of markets (but, like bonds, mostly 'over-the-counter').

The size of the worldwide 'bond market' is estimated at $45 trillion. The size of the 'stock market' is estimated as about half that. The world derivatives market has been estimated at about $300 trillion. The leading U.S. Banks alone are said to account for about $100 trillion. It must be noted though that the derivatives market, because it is stated in terms of notional superior amounts, cannot be directly compared to a stock or determinate income market, which refers to effective value.

The stocks are listed and traded on stock exchanges which are entities (a corporation or shared organization) differentiated in the business of bringing buyers and sellers of stocks and securities together. The stock market in the United States includes the trading of all securities listed on the NYSE, the NASDAQ, the Amex, as well as on the numerous regional exchanges, the OTCBB, and chromatic Sheets. European examples of stock exchanges include the Paris Bourse (now part of Euronext), the London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Brse. The BSE & NSE are Stock Markets that have arisen from India. These are also working on a precise humongous scale.

some years ago, worldwide, buyers and sellers were idiosyncratic investors, much as rich businessmen, with eight-day family histories (and emotional ties) to specific corporations. Over time, markets have become more "institutionalized"; buyers and sellers are largely institutions (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, shared funds, hedge funds, investor groups, and banks). The rise of the institutional investor has brought with it some improvements in market operations. Thus, the government was answerable for "determinate" (and immoderate) fees being markedly reduced for the 'half-size' investor, but only after the great institutions had managed to break the brokers' dry front on fees (they then went to 'negotiated' fees, but only for super institutions).

However, corporate governance (at least in the West) has been greatly affected by the rise of institutional 'owners.'

Stock market index

The movements of the prices in a market or section of a market are captured in price indices called stock market indices, of which there are galore, e.g., the S&P, the FTSE and the Euronext indices. much indices are usually market capitalization (the total market value of unsettled capital of the company) heavy, with the weights reflecting the contribution of the stock to the index. The constituents of the index are reviewed frequently to include/exclude stocks in order to reflect the changing business environment.

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