What is the stock market?
A: A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of
buyers and sellers of stocks which represent ownership claims on businesses.
The total market capitalization of all publicly traded
securities worldwide rose from US$2.5 trillion in 1980 to what at the end of
2020?
A: US$93.7 trillion.
As of 2016, there are how many stock exchanges in the
world?
A: 60.
Of these, there are 16 exchanges with a market
capitalization of how much?
A: $1 trillion or more, and they account for 87% of global market
capitalization.
Apart from the Australian Securities Exchange, these 16
exchanges are all where?
A: In North America, Europe, or Asia.
By country, the largest stock markets as of January
2021 are where?
A: In the United States of America (about 55.9%), followed by
Japan (about
7.4%) and China (about 5.4%).
A stock exchange is an exchange where stockbrokers and
traders can buy and sell what?
A: Shares (equity stock), bonds, and other securities.
Many large companies have their stocks what?
A: Listed on a stock exchange.
This makes the stock more what?
A: Liquid and thus more attractive to many investors.
The exchange may also act as a what?
A: A guarantor of settlement.
These and other stocks may also be traded "over the
counter" (OTC), that is, through a what?
A: A dealer.
Why do some large companies have their stock listed on
more than one exchange in different countries?
A: To attract international investors.
Stock exchanges may also cover other types of
securities, such as what?
A: Fixed-interest securities (bonds) or (less frequently) derivatives, which
are more likely to be traded OTC.
Participants in the stock market range from small
individual stock investors to larger investors, and may include what?
A: Banks, insurance companies, pension funds and hedge funds.
Their buy or sell orders may be executed on their
behalf by who?
A: A stock exchange trader.
Some exchanges are physical locations where
transactions are carried out on a trading floor, by a method known as what?
A: Open outcry.
This method is used in some stock exchanges and
commodities exchanges, and involves traders doing what?
A: Shouting bid and offer prices.
The other type of stock exchange has a network of
computers where trades are made how?
A: Electronically.
An example of such an exchange is the what?
A: NASDAQ.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a physical
exchange, with a hybrid market for placing orders electronically from any
location as well as where?
A: On the trading floor.
The NASDAQ is an electronic exchange, where all of the
trading is done how?
A: Over a computer network.
The Paris Bourse, now part of Euronext, is a what?
A: An order-driven, electronic stock exchange.
When was it automated?
A: In the late 1980s.
Prior to the 1980s, it consisted of what?
A: An open outcry exchange.
Indirect investment involves owning shares indirectly,
such as via a what?
A: A mutual fund or an exchange traded fund. Direct investment involves
direct ownership of shares.[10]
Investments in pension funds and 401ks, the two most
common vehicles of indirect participation, are taxed only when funds are
what?
A: Withdrawn from the accounts.
In 12th-century France, the courtiers de change were
concerned with managing and regulating the debts of what?
A: Agricultural communities on behalf of the banks.
Because these men also traded with debts, they could be
called what?
A: The first brokers.