Home | Trading
By: Carlie Eviee
Reading the stock tables in the newspaper can be very confusing when you're just learning about the stock market. It's important to learn how to read stocks, though, and it won't take a lot of time. There are twelve columns in the table, and you'll notice that each stock has its own line in this table. To find out how the stock has been performing over the past year, look at the first two columns-- these will be labeled something to the effect of "52W High" and "52W Low." You'll see the highest point the stock has achieved in the last 52 weeks in the "52W High" column. Its lowest value will be in the "52W Low" column. The column after that you will discover the name of the stock and then the ticker symbol for that stock. You will probably recognize some of these from the tickers that run across the bottom of the screen sometimes on the cable news networks. By the way, watching some of the financial shows could be a good idea. It will further your knowledge even more on how to read stocks and understand the way the market works. There's another column next to the ticker column, and it's labeled "Div." This column shows you the annual dividend the stock pays out for each share. If you see a blank space in this column, that means the stock doesn't pay dividends right now. The same rule also applies to the very next column, "Yield %", the percentage return on the dividend. The earnings ratio is indicated by P/E. You get this number by dividing the current stock price by the earnings per share for the last four quarters. "High" and "Low" are the next two columns. You'll be able to see the lowest and highest point the stock has reached in the day's trading. "Net Change" shows the change from the day before; "Close" tells you the point when the stock closed for the day. With a basic understanding of how to read stocks, you can now move on and start learning more about the market itself.
Article Source: http://www.articlenorth.com
Visit How to Buy Stocks and get all the free help you need to understand How to Trade Stocks, Stock Market Basics and so much more.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
Article Directory