can someone explain the whole stock market deal simply?

Question

easy to understand. 8) thanks.

Answer 1

Buy low, sell high

Answer 2

These bozos don't know, here it goes, lets see if i get bes answer, let's cut the mumbo jumbo bologna.
Stocks are just shares in companies. Here's something no one mentioned. The Nasdaq is an exchange mostly with 4 symbol stocks such as msft(microsoft) csco (cisco) while the Dow consists of mostly 2 and 3 symbol stocks such as IBM, and GE. American exchange has both. The Dow which is the bigger exchange consists of a lot of what they call "blue chip" companies, companies with large market caps, or large substantial sizes. The Nasdaq consists of a lot of mid cap, smaller caps consisting of a lot of technology, biotech stocks. Nadaq overall is a little more risky with usually a bigger reward, while the DOW will mostly have big long term companies that pay dividends. sorry im tallking so much.
Anyway, stocks are just merely reflections of a company. The more profit a company has, and growth, the better the stock will do. If you are a new investor, i'd buy stocks with good dividends, one's that will actually pay you a quarterly payout to own them. Here are some:

xom,ge,dow,eop,ggp
Good luck

Answer 3

The stock market is simple.

A company goes "public" and the action of going public means the public can own a piece of the company.

That "piece" is called stock.

The value of the stock has not only a book value. but also a perceived value. That perceived value goes up or down depending on news items, analyst reports, and a 1000 other things that goes way too long to explain.

Note for Godzillas below...

There is no such thing as the "Dow Exchange".

Its the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange).
Bozo's indeed...

Answer 4

When you own a stock, you own a piece of the company. If the company does well, you do well, and the reverse. If they make a lot of money, they may share it with the owners: that's called a dividend. The price of the stock is what a willing buyer will pay and a willing seller will sell it for.

Answer 5

companies that are floated sell shares in the company, the share has a value, usually set by the value of the company at floatation. the shares then go up or down according to the companies perfomance and profits, you might buy shares in a company that you think is going to do very well, you may pay for example 1 dollar per share, if the company performs well and makes a good profit the shares will go up in value to say 2 dollars, you might decide to sell the shares and then you have doubled your money. the art is in investing in the right companies and making a profit.

Answer 6

It is basically gambling based on whether a seller and buyer agree the value of an asset (company) is increasing or decreasing. Main operatives are fear versus greed.

I should add that the fear and greed are reactions to the myriad of inputs real and imagined. Doesn't matter if it is a real profit change or someone saying BOO.

Answer 7

If you are going to learn about stocks and investing, why not learn from the best? (Warren Buffet)
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/reports.html
Click on the annual reports and go right to the chairman's letter; you will see some fairly plain-english explanations. His investment style I would describe as very long-term and safety oriented.

Answer 8

Check out www.fool.com

Answer 9

also check on wikipedia