The Nasdaq 100 ended its operations on February 15 with an increase of 0.77%

positive session for Nasdaq 100which closed the session of Wednesday, February 15 with slight increases in 0.77%until the 12,687.89 dots. He Nasdaq 100 reached the maximum number of 12,689.34 dots and the minimum number of 12,486.42 dots. The trading range for the Nasdaq 100 between its highest point and its lowest point (maximum-minimum) during this day, it was at the 1.6%.

Compared to the profitability of the last seven days, the Nasdaq 100 recorded an increase of 1.54%; although last year there was still a decrease in 11.08%. He Nasdaq 100 is located 0.9% below its maximum this year (12,803.14 points) and a 18.12% above its minimum price so far this year (10,741.22 points).

What is a stock index and what is it used for?

a stock market index is an indicator that shows how the price of a given set of assets is movingSo you need to have data from various companies or sectors in a fragment of the market.

These indicators are mainly used by the exchanges of each country and each of them can be integrated by companies with specific needs like having a similar market capitalization or being in the same type of industry, similarly, some indices only consider a handful of stocks to determine their value or others that consider hundreds of stocks.

Stock indices serve as indicator of confidence in stock market, business confidence, health of national and global economy and stock investment performance and shares of the company. Generally, if investors are not confident, stock values ​​tend to fall.

They are also working to measure the performance of an asset manager and allow investors to compare profitability and risk; measure the opportunities of a financial asset or create portfolios.

These types of indicators began to be used at the end of the 19th century after the journalist Charles H. Dow. To see carefully how company stocks tended to rise or fall together in price, he therefore created two indices: one that contained the 20 largest railroad companies (since that was the largest industry at the time), as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

Currently, in our economy, there are various indices and they can group together based on geography, industries, company size, or even asset classFor example, the American Nasdaq index is made up of the 100 largest companies mainly related to technology such as Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOG), Tesla (TSLA ), Nvidia (NVDA), PayPal (PYPL), Comcast (CMCSA), Adobe (ADBE).

How is a stock index measured?

Each stock index has its own calculation method, but the main factor is the market capitalization of each company that incorporates it. This is obtained by multiplying the daily value of the share on the corresponding stock market by the total number of shares that are in the hands of the investors.

Listed companies are required to present a balance sheet of its composition. This report must be made public every three or six months, as the case may be.

Reading a stock market index also means observing its evolution over time. New indices always appear with a fixed value based on security prices on their start date, but not everyone follows this method. Therefore, it can be misleading.

If one index rises 500 points in one day, while another only gains 20, it may seem that the former has performed better. But, if the first started the day at 30,000 points and the other at 300, we can deduce that in terms of percentage, the gains for the second were greater.

The main stock market indices

Between the major US stock indices is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, better known as the Dow Jones, of which 30 companies are part. Likewise, the S&P500, which includes 500 of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Finally, we must not forget the Nasdaq 100which associates 100 of the largest non-financial companies.

On the other hand, the most important indices of Europe are the Euro Stoxx 50, which covers the 50 largest companies in the euro area. On the other hand, the DAX 30, the main German index containing the strongest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; there FTSE100 the London Stock Exchange; he CAC 40 of the Paris Stock Exchange; and the IBEX 35of the Spanish stock exchange.

In the asian continentthe main stock market indices are the Nikki 225, made up of the 225 largest companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. There is also the SSE composite index, which can be considered China’s preeminent, made up of the most prominent companies on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Also, it is worth mentioning the Hang Seung Index in Hong Kong and the KOSPI in South Korea.

As it concerns Latin Americayou have the IPCwhich contains the 35 most influential companies on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). At least a third of them belong to the capital of tycoon Carlos Slim.

Another is the Bovespa, composed of the 50 most important companies of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange; he Merval from Argentina; he IPSA From Chile; he MSCI COLCAP Columbia; he IBC of Caracas, made up of 6 companies from Venezuela.

In addition, there are other types of global stock indices such as the MSCI Latin Americawhich includes the 137 most important companies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Likewise, there is MSCI World, which brings together 1,600 companies from 23 developed countries; he MSCI Emerging Markets, made up of more than 800 companies from developing countries; and the S&P Global 100made up of the 100 most powerful multinational corporations on the entire planet.