Common Indexes
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2005-03-20 12:08:24
When you are researching or monitoring a stock, bond, or mutual fund, choose an index that is similar to your investment and see how that investment measures up to similar investments. The financial pages of your local newspaper should list the average returns for many of the following indexes.
| Stock Indexes | Tracks |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 30 U.S. "Blue Chip" stocks. This is the yardstick by which the general public keeps track how the market is performing. |
| Standard and Poor's (S &P; ) 500 | 500 large, domestic stocks. Most index funds are based on the S &P; 500. |
| Wilshire 5000 | The entire U.S. stock market. This is the most comprehensive domestic index. |
| Russell 3000 | Stocks of 3,000 of the largest U.S. corporations. |
| Russell 2000 | Stocks of small companies worth between $160 million and $1 billion each. |
| Morgan Stanley Europe, and Far East | The world's major non-U.S. stock markets. |
| Bond Indexes | Tracks |
| Lehman Brothers Government Bond Index | U.S. government agency and Treasury bonds. |
| Lehman Brothers Corporate Bond Index | Investment-grade corporate bonds. |
For More Information
For an up-to-date look at how different indexes are performing, check out the following Web sites:
You can track the stocks of companies that are listed on the Russell Index.
You can track a variety of indexes at IndexFunds, an independent information Web site on index investing.
URL: http://www.indexfunds.com
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