What Is an Index?
A financial index produces a numeric score based on inputs such as a variety of asset prices. It can be used to track the performance of a group of assets in a standardized way. Indexes typically measure the performance of a basket of securities intended to replicate a certain area of the market.
These could be constructed as a broad-based index that captures the entire market, such as the or Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), or more specialized such as indexes that track a particular industry or segment such as the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks only small-cap stocks.
Key Takeaways
- An index measures the price performance of a basket of securities using a standardized metric and methodology.
- Indexes in financial markets are often used as benchmarks to evaluate an investment's performance against.
- Some of the most important indexes in the U.S. markets are the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- Passive index investing has become a popular low-cost way to replicate the returns of popular indices such as the S&P 500 Index or Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- Benchmarking your investment strategy against the appropriate index is key to understanding a portfolio's performance.
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Understanding Indexes
Indexes are also created to measure other financial or economic data such as interest rates, inflation, or manufacturing output. Indexes often serve as benchmarks against which to evaluate the performance of a portfolio's returns. One popular investment strategy, known as indexing, is to try to replicate such an index in a passive manner rather than trying to outperform it.
Indexes in finance are typically used to track a statistical measure of change in various security prices. In finance, it typically refers to a statistical measure of change in a securities market. In the case of financial markets, stock and bond market indexes consist of a hypothetical portfolio of securities representing a particular market or a segment of it. (You cannot invest directly in an index.) The S&P 500 Index and the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index are common benchmarks for the U.S. stock and bond markets, respectively. In reference to mortgages, it refers to a benchmark interest rate created by a third party.
Each index related to the stock and bond markets has its own calculation methodology. In most cases, the relative change of an index is more important than the actual numeric value representing the index. For example, if the FTSE 100 Index is at 6,670.40, that number tells investors the index is nearly seven times its base level of 1,000. However, to assess how the index has changed from the previous day, investors must look at the amount the index has fallen, often expressed as a percentage.
Index Investing
Indexes are also often used as benchmarks against which to measure the performance of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). For instance, many mutual funds compare their returns to the return in the S&P500 Index to give investors a sense of how much more or less the managers are earning on their money than they would make in an index fund.
"Indexing" is a form of passive fund management. Instead of a fund portfolio manager activelystock pickingandmarket timing—that is, choosing securities to invest in and strategizing when to buy and sell them—the fund manager builds a portfolio wherein the holdings mirror the securities of a particular index. The idea is that by mimicking the profile of the index—the stock market as a whole, or a broad segment of it—the fund will match its performance as well.
Since you cannot invest directly in an index, index funds are created to track their performance. These funds incorporate securities that closely mimic those found in anindex, thereby allowing an investor to bet on its performance, for a fee. An example of a popular index fund is the (VOO), which closely mirrors the S&P 500 Index.
When putting together mutual funds and ETFs, fund sponsors attempt to create portfolios mirroring the components of a certain index. This allows an investor to buy a security likely to rise and fall in tandem with the stock market as a whole or with a segment of the market.
Index Examples
The S&P 500 Index is one of the world's best-known indexes and one of the most commonly used benchmarks for the stock market. It includes 80% of the total stocks traded in the United States. Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is also well known, but represents stock values from just 30 of the nation's publicly traded companies. Other prominent indexes include the Nasdaq 100 Index, Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, MSCI EAFE Index, and the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index.
Like mutual funds, indexed annuities are tied to a trading index. However, rather than the fund sponsor trying to put together an investment portfolio likely to closely mimic the index in question, these securities feature a rate of return that follows a particular index but typically have caps on the returns they provide. For example, if an investor buys an annuity indexed to the Dow Jones and it has a cap of 10%, its rate of return will be between 0 and 10%, depending on the annual changes to that index. Indexed annuities allow investors to buy securities that grow along with broad market segments or the total market.
Adjustable-rate mortgages feature interest rates that adjust over the life of the loan. The adjustable interest rate is determined by adding a margin to an index. One of the most popular indexes on which mortgages are based is the London Inter-bank Offer Rate (LIBOR). For example, if a mortgage indexed to the LIBOR has a 2% margin and the LIBOR is 3%, the interest rate on the loan is 5%.
What Is an Index Fund?
An index fund is a mutual fund or ETF that seeks to replicate the performance of an index, often by constructing its portfolio to mirror that of the index itself. Index investing is considered a passive strategy since it does not involve any stock picking or active management. Studies show that over time, indexing strategies tend to perform better than stock picking strategies. Because they are passive index funds also tend to have lower fees and tax exposure.
What Are Different Ways to Construct an Index?
Indexes can be built in a number of ways, often with consideration to how to weight the various components of the index. The three main ways include:
- A market-cap, or capitalization-weighted index puts more weight in the index to those components that have the largest market capitalization (market value), such as the S&P 500
- A price-weighted index puts more weight to those components with the highest prices (such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average)
- An equal-weighted index allocates each component with the same weights (this is sometimes called an unweighted index)
Why Are Indexes Useful?
Indexes are useful for providing valid benchmarks against which to measure investment performance for a given strategy or portfolio. By understanding how a strategy does relative to a benchmark, one can understand its true performance.
Indexes also provide investors with a simplified snapshot of a large market sector, without having to examine every single asset in that index. For example, it would be impractical for an ordinary investor to study hundreds of different stock prices in order to understand the changing fortunes of different technology companies. A sector-specific index can show the average trend for the sector.
What Are Some Major Stock Indexes?
In the United States, the three leading stock indexes are the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and the Russell 2000. For international markets, theFinancial Times Stock Exchange 100 (FTSE 100) Indexand theNikkei 225Index are popular proxies for the British and Japanese stock markets, respectively. Most countries with stock exchanges publish at least one index for their major stocks.
What Are Some Bond Indexes?
While stock market indexes may most often come to mind, indexes are also constructed around other asset classes. In the bond market, for example, the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index tracks the investment grade bond market, while the Emerging Market Bond Index looks at government bonds of emerging market economies.
The Bottom Line
Market indexes provide a broad representation of how markets are performing. These indexes serve as benchmarks to gauge the movement and performance of market segments. Investors also use indexes as a basis for portfolio or passive index investing. In the U.S. such representative indexes include the large-cap S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100.
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What Is an Index?
An index in the financial context is a numeric score that measures the performance of a group of assets, such as stocks or bonds, in a standardized way. It is used to track the price performance of a basket of securities and can be constructed as a broad-based index that captures the entire market or as a specialized index that focuses on a particular industry or segment [[1]].
Indexes are often used as benchmarks to evaluate the performance of investments. They provide a standardized metric and methodology for measuring the performance of a portfolio's returns [[1]]. Some of the most important indexes in the U.S. markets include the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) [[1]].
Passive index investing has become popular as a low-cost way to replicate the returns of popular indexes like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average [[1]].
Understanding Indexes
Indexes are not limited to measuring the performance of securities. They can also be created to measure other financial or economic data such as interest rates, inflation, or manufacturing output [[1]].
In finance, an index typically refers to a statistical measure of change in a securities market. Stock and bond market indexes consist of a hypothetical portfolio of securities representing a particular market or segment of it. It's important to note that you cannot directly invest in an index [[1]].
Each index related to the stock and bond markets has its own calculation methodology. The relative change of an index is often more important than the actual numeric value representing the index. For example, investors may look at the percentage change of an index to assess how it has changed from the previous day [[1]].
Index Investing
Indexes are commonly used as benchmarks to measure the performance of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Many mutual funds compare their returns to the return of a specific index, such as the S&P 500, to provide investors with a sense of how much more or less the fund managers are earning compared to an index fund [[1]].
Index funds are created to track the performance of an index. These funds incorporate securities that closely mimic those found in the index, allowing investors to bet on its performance. For example, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) closely mirrors the S&P 500 Index [[1]].
Index Examples
Some well-known indexes include:
- S&P 500 Index: One of the world's best-known indexes, it includes 80% of the total stocks traded in the United States [[1]].
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: Represents stock values from just 30 of the nation's publicly traded companies [[1]].
- Nasdaq 100 Index: Tracks the performance of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock market [[1]].
- Russell 2000 Index: Tracks the performance of small-cap stocks [[1]].
- FTSE 100 Index: Popular proxy for the British stock market [[1]].
- Nikkei 225 Index: Popular proxy for the Japanese stock market [[1]].
- Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index: Tracks the investment-grade bond market [[1]].
Different Ways to Construct an Index
Indexes can be constructed in different ways, considering how to weight the various components. The three main ways include:
- Market-cap or capitalization-weighted index: Puts more weight on components with the largest market capitalization, such as the S&P 500 [[1]].
- Price-weighted index: Puts more weight on components with the highest prices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average [[1]].
- Equal-weighted index: Allocates equal weights to each component, also known as an unweighted index [[1]].
Why Are Indexes Useful?
Indexes provide valid benchmarks against which to measure investment performance. By comparing the performance of a strategy or portfolio to a benchmark, investors can understand its true performance [[1]].
Indexes also offer a simplified snapshot of a large market sector without the need to examine every single asset. For example, a sector-specific index can show the average trend for a particular sector, like technology companies [[1]].
Major Stock and Bond Indexes
In the United States, major stock indexes include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and the Russell 2000. For international markets, the FTSE 100 Index and the Nikkei 225 Index are popular proxies for the British and Japanese stock markets, respectively [[1]].
In the bond market, indexes like the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index track the investment-grade bond market, while the Emerging Market Bond Index looks at government bonds of emerging market economies [[1]].
In conclusion, indexes play a crucial role in the financial markets as benchmarks for evaluating investment performance and providing a snapshot of market trends. They are used in various investment strategies, including index funds and ETFs, to replicate the performance of specific indexes.
