More Key Market Indexes

Over the years, the number of market indexes has grown substantially. For instance, in addition to its industrial average, Dow Jones & Company itself now publishes a transportation average, a utility average, and a composite of all three. Some of the more widely-known indexes are listed below: American Gas Association (AGA) Stock Index - The AGA Stock Index contains approximately 100 publicly-traded stocks of companies engaged in the natural gas distribution and transmission industry. Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) - This index is a price-weighted average of the stocks of 20 large companies in the transportation business, including airlines, railroads, and trucking. Created in 1884, this is the oldest U.S. stock market index. Dow Jones Utility Average (DJUA) - A price-weighted average composed of 15 geographically representative and well-established gas and electric utility companies. Dow Jones Composite Average - This index is a composite of the DJIA, DJTA, and DJUA component stocks. Because it's a combination of the three blue chip averages, it gives a good indication of the overall direction of the largest, most established companies. Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index - This index measures total investment return provided by a wide range of fixed-income securities, weighted by the total market value of each. It is generally considered to be the best bond index, and is used by more than 90 percent of U.S. investors. Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe Index - A diversified, market value-weighted index comprising over 500 companies located in 15 European countries. The U.K., France, and Germany make up approximately two-thirds of the index. Morgan Stanley Capital International Pacific Index - This is a diversified, market value-weighted Pacific Basin index consisting of approximately 500 companies located in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore. The Japanese stock market represents about three-fourths of the market value. Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia, and Far East Index (MSCI EAFE) - A broadly-diversified international index consisting of equity securities of companies in 21 developed markets outside the of U.S. New York Stock Exchange Composite Index - A market value-weighted index which includes all stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Schwab 1000 Index - This index consists of the common stocks of the 1,000 largest U.S. corporations as measured by market capitalization. Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index - The S&P 500 measures the total investment return of 500 common stocks, which are chosen by Standard & Poor's Corporation on a statistical basis. The 500 securities, most of which trade on the NYSE, represent about 70 percent of the market value of all U.S. common stocks. Typically, companies included in the S&P 500 are the largest and most dominant firms in their industries. Wilshire 5000 Index - This market capitalization-weighted index consists of all publicly traded U.S. stocks, and provides an overall view of the U.S. stock market. More than 6,000 equities are included in the index. It's used to measure the performance of stocks as a whole, as opposed to a particular segment of the stock market.