Fundamentals of Investing: Fourteenth Edition, Global Edition
Fundamentals of Investing: Fourteenth Edition, Global Edition
Fundamentals of Investing: Fourteenth Edition, Global Edition
Chapter 3
Investment Information and
Securities Transactions
• Types of Information
– Economic and current event information
– Industry and company information
– Information on alternative investments
– Price information
– Information on personal investment strategies
• Sources of Information
– Economic and Current Event Information
▪ Financial journals:
– Wall Street Journal: Best-known source; reports daily
world, national, regional, and corporate news
– Barron’s: second credible source, published weekly
– Investor’s Business Daily: contains more detailed price
and market data than WSJ
The excerpt from Procter & Gamble’s Annual Report quickly acquaints the investor with some key Information
on the firm’s operations over the past year. (Source: Procter & Gamble annual report,
http://www.pginvestor.com/Cache/1001242072.PDF?O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1001242072&iid=4004
124
, Accessed November 8, 2018.) Courtesy of Procter & Gamble
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Types and Sources of Information
(7 of 9)
• Sources of Information
– Industry and Company Information
Subscription Services
– Standard & Poor’s Corporation (S&P): basic news and market
commentary is free; Bloomberg Businessweek
– Mergent: equity and bond portraits, corporate research
– Value Line Investment Survey: provides online access to data,
graphing, portfolio tracking and technical indicators
Brokerage Reports: research reports available to brokerage firms’ clients
– Back-office research reports: analysis of and recommendations
on prospects for the securities markets, specific industries, or
specific securities.
Investment Letters: newsletters that provide, on a subscription basis,
the analyses, conclusions, and recommendations of their authors.
Yahoo! Finance Simple design, content-rich; easy to find information quickly. Includes financial
news, price quotes, portfolio trackers, bill paying, personalized home page,
and a directory of other major sites.
MarketWatch A site devoted more to investment data and numbers rather than news,
MarketWatch provides quotes and charts that update throughout the trading
day.
Website Description
Investing in Bonds Developed by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association; good for novice investors. Bond education, research
reports, historical data, and links to other sites. Searchable
database.
Treasury Direct Run by U.S. Treasury Department. Information about U.S. savings
bonds and Treasury securities. Can buy Treasury securities online
through Treasury Direct program.
Website Description
Morningstar Profiles mutual funds with ratings; screening tools, portfolio analysis and
management; fund manager interviews, e-mail newsletters; educational
sections. Advanced screening and analysis tools are available for a fee.
Mutual Fund Investor's Center Not-for-profit, easy-to-navigate site from the Mutual Fund Education Alliance
with investor education, search feature, and links to profiles of funds,
calculators for retirement, asset allocation, and college planning.
MAXfunds Offers several custom metrics and data points to help find the best funds and
give investors tools other than past performance to choose funds. Covers
more funds than any other on- or offline publication. MAXadvisor Powerfund
Portfolios, a premium advisory service, is available for a fee.
During this period, both indexes followed a rising trend, with the DJIA gaining
about 38% and the S&P 500 gaining about 30%. (Source: Yahoo! Finance
screenshot, http://www.finance.yahoo.com.)
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Understanding Market Averages and
Indexes (7 of 9)
• Stock Market Averages and Indexes
– NYSE, NYSE MKT, and Nasdaq Indexes: each index reflects the movement of stocks
listed on its exchange
▪ NYSE Composite Index: includes all stocks listed on the NYSE; behavior of index
is normally similar to that of the DJIA and S&P 500 indexes.
– NYSE MKT Composite Index: reflects the price of all shares traded on the
NYSE MKT Exchange; tends to move in the general direction, but not exactly
as the S&P and NYSE indexes
▪ Nasdaq Stock Market Indexes: reflect Nasdaq stock market activity
– Composite Index: most comprehensive, calculated using the more than 3,000
common stocks traded on the Nasdaq
– Nasdaq 100: includes 100 of the largest domestic and international
nonfinancial companies listed on Nasdaq
– Biotech and Computer Indexes
– Movements of these indexes are often sharper than those of the other major
indexes