Are NASDAQ, S&P 500, .. sort of global markets. & why companies, e.g. Facebook, are traded throw them ?

[Simon Shahin]

Economics, Markets and Trade ... And perhaps Commercial Advertisements !!
Why Facebook is traded as NASDAQ (i.e. when opening Wikipedia, we get that Facebook and Apple are traded as NASDAQ). So are these Initials indicating a set of companies connected with each others, or connected with each others and the world ?
And what's the meaning of Market Index ? Is it a physical entity ?
So explain NASDAQ, S&P 500 and all the rest if companies sets !!

[cactusgene]

No, NASDAQ and the S&P 500 are made up of American companies, even though they may do business on a global scale. And I don't understand your comment in regards to Facebook. Can you explain what you are asking for there?

[David]

Defining your terms will clarify greatly. An "exchange", like the NYSE (New York Stock EXCHANGE) or Nasdaq, are where stocks are traded. Conversely, an "index", like the DJIA, Nasdaq Index or Nasdaq 100 Index or the S&P 500 Index, are measures of the market as a whole.

Whenever someone talks about the stock market as a place where equities are exchanged between buyers and sellers, the first thing that comes to mind is either the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq.

The location of an exchange refers not so much to its street address but the "place" where its transactions take place. On the NYSE, all trades occur in a physical place, on the trading floor in New York City. So, when you see those guys waving their hands on TV or ringing a bell before opening the exchange, you are seeing the people through whom stocks are transacted on the NYSE.

Definition of 'New York Stock Exchange - NYSE'
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nyse.asp

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, is located not on a physical trading floor but on a telecommunications network.
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/bas...103103.asp

Definition of 'Nasdaq'
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nasdaq.asp

Definition of 'Standard & Poor's 500 Index
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sp500.asp

A Market Index is simply a measure of a particular market; a way of measuring strength or weakness. The DJIA, S&P 500 Index, and the Nasdaq Index are three of the world's best known indexes, and are the most commonly used benchmarks for the stock market.

The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) is a market index of 30 stocks. If you take the price of each stock in the index and add them together, then divide by 30, you get an Average. These are 30 of the biggest companies in the US, and you would recognize every name. If the DJIA is up significantly on the day, then most stocks are up also. The percentage change is more important than the actual numeric value. The Dow (DJIA) is quoted everywhere and is easy to check how the market is doing (a market index is therefore a proxy for the market the index follows). It's much easier to check the Dow than all fourteen of my stocks while on my lunch hour, for example.

Definition of 'Dow Jones Industrial Average - DJIA
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/djia.asp
http://www.investopedia.com/financial-ed...-djia.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500_index

The best way to learn is from a good book or three. A good book on the basics of investing, like Investing For Dummies, will clear up most beginner questions and confusion. Getting your information one sentence at a time or one paragraph at a time in little snippets from the internet is more difficult and slower to learn.