What is Dow Jones in simple terms and why should I, as someone who cannot afford stocks care about it? Genuine question, thank you in advance.
What is Dow Jones in simple terms and why should I, as someone who cannot afford stocks care about it? Genuine question, thank you in advance.
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A measure of financial health and security in the USA
In very simplistic terms, because even if you personally can’t afford to invest, people and companies who can lose money, or are taking it out ti try and avoid issues.
And with that fewer people/companies spend into the economy. So companies stop hiring, stop giving pay rises, stop spending on new projects. Basically they start to keep as much money back to secure themselves.
It shows you that less money will be flowing.
P.s. if you have a pension, it could be affected by the market as they are often investments into stocks and shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a.stock index that consists of 30 prominent companies in the US economy. If the DOW is up, those companies are increasing in value. If the DOW is down, those companies are decreasing in value.
Stock market indexes are a useful tool to watch how the wider market is doing, instead of just looking at one company at a time.
Another prominent stock market index is the S&P 500, which tracks 500 companies in aggregate. This is a wider view than the DOW. Depending on what you want to measure, they can both be useful.
It’s overall a shorthand way to check how the overall stock market is doing on any given day.
When it goes up, my boss is happy. When it goes down, I get laid off.