Markets, made clearer.
Thoughtful guides to instruments, data and the forces that connect them.
Stocks: understanding the building blocks of an equity market
A share represents an ownership interest in a company. Its market price reflects what buyers and sellers are willing to exchange at a given moment, while the company’s performance and expectations can influence its value over time.
Read article →ETFs: a practical guide to the wrapper
Exchange-traded funds hold a portfolio or track an investment strategy, while their shares trade on an exchange. A fund can offer exposure to an index, sector, bond market or other strategy.
Read article →Funds and ETFs: what their prices tell you
A fund pools capital under a defined investment mandate. Mutual funds and ETFs may hold similar assets, but their dealing and pricing conventions can differ.
Read article →Market indices: reading the benchmark
An index describes a rules-based selection of securities. It provides a reference for a market or strategy, but its composition and weighting determine what it actually measures.
Read article →Bond markets: yield, price and duration
A bond represents a debt obligation. Its price and yield generally move in opposite directions as market rates and perceived credit risk change.
Read article →Currency pairs and the markets they connect
A currency pair expresses the value of one currency in terms of another. The first is the base currency and the second is the quote currency.
Read article →Commodities: from spot prices to futures
Commodities span energy, metals and agricultural products. A spot reference and a futures contract describe different exposures and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Read article →Splits and dividends in historical data
Corporate actions can change the interpretation of a price series. A stock split changes the share count and price scale, while a dividend distributes value to shareholders.
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