View data of the S&P 500, an index of the stocks of 500 leading companies in the US economy, which provides a gauge of the U.S. equity market.

In 2024, 62 percent of adults in the United States invested in the stock market. This figure has remained steady over the last few years, and is still below the levels before the Great Recession, when it peaked in 2007 at 65 percent. What is the stock market? The stock market can be defined as a group of stock exchanges, where investors can buy shares in a publicly traded company. In more recent years, it is estimated an increasing number of Americans are using neobrokers, making stock trading more accessible to investors. Other investments A significant number of people think stocks and bonds are the safest investments, while others point to real estate, gold, bonds, or a savings account. Since witnessing the significant one-day losses in the stock market during the Financial Crisis, many investors were turning towards these alternatives in hopes for more stability, particularly for investments with longer maturities. This could explain the decrease in this statistic since 2007. Nevertheless, some speculators enjoy chasing the short-run fluctuations, and others see value in choosing particular stocks.

In 2024, stock markets in the United States accounted for roughly 60 percent of world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was Japan, followed by the United Kingdom. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ are the largest stock exchange operators worldwide. What is a stock exchange? The first modern publicly traded company was the Dutch East Industry Company, which sold shares to the general public to fund expeditions to Asia. Since then, groups of companies have formed exchanges in which brokers and dealers can come together and make transactions in one space. Stock market indices group companies trading on a given exchange, giving an idea of how they evolve in real time. Appeal of stock ownership Over half of adults in the United States are investing money in the stock market. Stocks are an attractive investment because the possible return is higher than offered by other financial instruments.

Prices for United States Stock Market Index (US30) including live quotes, historical charts and news. United States Stock Market Index (US30) was last updated by Trading Economics this March 26 of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) from 2015-03-26 to 2025-03-25 about stock market, transportation, average, and USA.

Between March 2020 and August 2024, four of the biggest one-day losses on the Nasdaq Composite Index occurred in the first half of 2020. The worst day was March 16, 2020, when the index fell by 12.32 percent. The 25 worst days in terms of losses were spread across 2020 and 2022. This index includes the Big Five tech giants - Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Meta, and Microsoft - as well as many other technology-focused companies.

The main stock market index in Hong Kong (HK50) increased 3587 points or 17.88% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Hong Kong. Hong Kong Stock Market Index (HK50) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

As of Janaury 2025, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq - the two largest stock exchange operators in the United States - held a combined market capitalization for domestic listed companies of over 62 trillion U.S. dollars. Both markets were almost evenly sized at this point in time - at approximately 32 and 30 trillion U.S. dollars, respectively. However, the Nasdaq has grown much quicker than the NYSE since January 2018, when their respective domestic market caps were 23 and 11 trillion U.S. dollars. Much of this can be attributed to the success of information technology stocks during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as the Nasdaq is the traditional venue for companies operating in the tech sector.

As of March 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 184 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of all all companies listed on the LSE. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks eighth globally. Key information The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is among the largest stock market operators globally and ranks 11th in terms of the oldest stock exchanges in existence, with 224 years of operation as of 2025. Performance after Covid The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the global economy, causing considerable volatility on the stock market. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a notable decline in the market capitalization value of its listed companies, reaching its lowest value in March 2020 at approximately three trillion British pounds in correlation with a surge in the average daily number of trades, which peaked at over two billion. Following this initial reaction, the LSE observed a decrease in the average daily active traders, alongside a gradual recovery in the market capitalization of the listed companies.

The main stock market index in Japan (JP225) decreased 2147 points or 5.38% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Japan. Japan Stock Market Index (JP225) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

The value of global domestic equity market increased from 65.04 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 111 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. The United States was by far the leading country with the largest share of total world stocks as of 2023. Global market capitalization in different regions The market capitalization of domestic companies listed varied across different regions of the world. As of Decmber 2023, the Americas region had the largest domestic equity market, totaling 54 trillion U.S. dollars. This region is home to the NYSE and Nasdaq, which are the two largest stock exchange operators in the world. The market capitalization of these two exchanges alone exceeded 48 billion U.S. dollars as of December 2023, larger than the market capitalization in the Asia-Pacific (34 trillion U.S. dollars) and EMEA (23 trillion U.S. dollars) regions in the same period. Largest Stock Exchanges in Latin America As of December 2023, the B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcao) was the biggest stock exchange in Latin America in terms of market capitalization and number of listed companies. Following the B3 were the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile. Moreover, the B3 also facilitated the trading of Petrobras, the largest Latin American company, with a market capitalization of nearly 95 billion U.S. dollars as of the same period.

As of August 2020, the S&P 500 index had lost 34 percent of its value due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Great Crash, which began with Black Tuesday, remains the most significant loss in value in its history. That market crash lasted for 300 months and wiped 86 percent off the index value.

The main stock market index in Russia (MOEX) increased 264 points or 9.16% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Russia. Russia Stock Market Index MOEX CFD - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

Dow stock price, live market quote, shares value, historical data, intraday chart, earnings per share and news.

ExxonMobil ranks first among the United States' top ten oil and gas producing companies based on market capitalization. As of December 18, 2024, the Texas-based oil supermajor had a market cap of 474.71 billion U.S. dollars. ExxonMobil can not only trace its roots back to the early years of commercial oil production, it has also become one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. It is active in all areas of the supply chain, from hydrocarbon extraction to retailing of gasoline. What is market cap? As opposed to sales or assets, market capitalization is a metric used to determine a company’s size by the worth of their outstanding shares on the stock market. ExxonMobil often ranks as the leading oil and gas company based on market cap worldwide. However, its net income is often significantly lower than that of state-owned entities such as Saudi Aramco. The differing ratios exemplify how market cap is not a hard figure like net profits, but inflates and fluctuates according to the perceived value of a company, influenced by less quantifiable factors. The role of oil and gas in the world economy The oil and gas industry is involved in exploration, extraction, refining, transport, and marketing of hydrocarbons. Many industries are extremely dependent on oil and gas products, mostly in the form of fuels or raw materials for chemical products. The oil and gas industry is one of the largest worldwide, and it would follow that companies involved within the industry are among the top companies worldwide by revenue.

The main stock market index in Italy (IT40) increased 4872 points or 14.25% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Italy. Italy Stock Market Index (IT40) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank on Wall Street, declared bankruptcy on the 15th of September 2008, becoming the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The investment house, which was founded in the mid-19th century, had become heavily involved in the U.S. housing bubble in the early 2000s, with its large holdings of toxic mortgage-backed securities (MBS) ultimately causing the bank's downfall. The bank had expanded rapidly following the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, which meant that investment banks could also engage in commercial banking activities. Lehman vertically integrated their mortgage business, buying smaller commercial enterprises that originated housing loans, which allowed the bank to expand its MBS holdings. The downfall of Lehman and the crash of '08 As the U.S. housing market began to slow down in 2006, the default rate on housing loans began to spike, triggering losses for Lehman from their MBS portfolio. Lehman's main competitor in mortgage financing, Bear Stearns, was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase in order to prevent bankruptcy in March 2008, leading investors and lenders to become increasingly concerned about the bank's financial health. As the bank relied on short-term funding on money markets in order to meet its obligations, the news of its huge losses in the third-quarter of 2008 further prevented it from funding itself on financial markets. By September, it was clear that without external assistance, the bank would fail. As its losses from credit default swaps mounted due to the deepening crash in the housing market, Lehman was forced to declare bankruptcy on September 15, as no buyer could be found to save the bank. The collapse of Lehman triggered panic in global financial markets, forcing the U.S. government to step in and bail-out the insurance giant AIG the next day on September 16. The effects of this financial crisis hit the non-financial economy hard, causing a global recession in 2009.

The main stock market index in Germany (DE40) increased 2823 points or 14.18% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Germany. Germany Stock Market Index (DE40) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

The main stock market index in France (FR40) increased 650 points or 8.81% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from France. France Stock Market Index (FR40) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

Until the third quarter of 2021, the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 ESG index exhibited similar performance, both indexes were weighted to similar industries as the S&P 500 followed the leading 500 companies in the United States. By the fourth quarter of 2021, the S&P 500 ESG index began to steadily outperform the S&P 500 by four points on average. During the coronavirus pandemic, the technology sector was one of the best-performing sectors in the market. The major differences between the two indexes were the S&P 500 ESG index was skewed towards firms with higher environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and had a higher concentration of technology securities than the S&P 500 index. What is a market capitalization index? Both the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 ESG are market capitalization indexes, meaning the individual components (such as stocks and other securities) weighted to the indexes influence the overall value. Market trends such as inflation, interest rates, and international issues like the coronavirus pandemic and the popularity of ESG among professional investors affect the performance of stocks. When weighted components rise in value this causes an increase in the overall value of the index they are weighted too. What trends are driving index performance? Recent economic and social trends have led to higher levels of ESG integration and maintenance among firms worldwide and higher prioritization from investors to include ESG-focused firms in their investment choices. From a global survey group over one-third of the respondents were willing to prioritize ESG benefits over a higher return on their investment. These trends influenced the performance of securities on the market, leading to an increased value of individual weighted stocks, resulting in an overall increase in the index value.