In 2025, ** 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 ** 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, 54 percent of the households in the United States owned shares in a mutual fund. This is a significant increase on the 5.7 percent recorded in 1980, but close to 52 percent found in 2022.Mutual fundsA mutual fund is a variety of collective investment vehicle managed professionally that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. They play an important role in household finances in the United States of today, most notably in retirement planning. It is commonly applied only to the forms of collective investment that are regulated and are sold to the public at large. The majority of mutual funds are what is known as ‘open-ended’, meaning that shares can be bought or sold at anytime. There are a number of advantages associated with mutual funds as opposed to direct investment in individual securities. The nature of the fund as a collective investment vehicle provides increased diversification and ease of comparison to investors. The fact that they are managed professionally, and that the investment is pooled, enables participation in investments that would normally only be available to larger investors. Mutual funds are also stable in price as daily liquidity ensures minimum loss of value. Despite several advantages, as with every aspect of investment, some disadvantages are to be considered. Fees are an inevitable part of a professionally managed fund, as is the inability to customize the investment. A common complaint is also that the investor has less control over the timing of the recognition of their gains.

Graph and download economic data for Households and Nonprofit Organizations; Directly and Indirectly Held Corporate Equities as a Percentage of Total Assets, Level (BOGZ1FL153064476Q) from Q4 1945 to Q2 2025 about nonprofit organizations, equity, percent, households, assets, and USA.

In a March 2020 survey, over ********* of adults reported that they were less likely to invest in the stock market based on what they knew about the coronavirus. Only ** percent of respondents said they were more likely to invest.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Corporate Equities and Mutual Fund Shares Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01122) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about mutual funds, wealth, equity, percentile, corporate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Corporate Equities and Mutual Fund Shares Held by the 90th to 99th Wealth Percentiles (WFRBSN09149) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about mutual funds, wealth, equity, percentile, corporate, and USA.

The main stock market index of United States, the US500, rose to 6818 points on December 2, 2025, gaining 0.08% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has declined 0.50%, though it remains 12.70% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from United States. United States Stock Market Index - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on December of 2025.

US retail investors had a relatively strong opinion on whether the stock market was more profitable than investments in cryptocurrencies. Nearly ** percent of the respondents to a survey listed crypto as potentially having the most risk, against almost ** percent preferring the stock market over virtual currencies in terms of profitability. One potential reason why this could be found at the US opinion on risk: slightly more respondents felt that the stock market was a more risky to invest in. This is quite different from answers given to these same questions but by consumers from the United Kingdom.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Corporate Equities and Mutual Fund Shares Held by the Bottom 50% (1st to 50th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBSB50203) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about mutual funds, wealth, equity, percentile, corporate, and USA.

The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is normally a triennial cross-sectional survey of U.S. families. The survey data include information on families' balance sheets, pensions, income, and demographic characteristics.

As of 2024, the United States was the country with the highest participation rate in stock markets. More than one in two Americans was invested in the stock market, either by direct retail investing or through financial vehicles like life insurance and pension funds. Canada was the second country in the ranking, with a participation rate of ** percent, followed by the Australia, where ** percent of individuals were invested in stock markets.

In 2025, stock markets in the United States accounted for roughly ** percent of world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was China, followed by the European Union as a whole. 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.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Financial Assets Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01112) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about wealth, percentile, financial, assets, and USA.

Actual value and historical data chart for United States Stock Market Return Percent Year On Year

This dataset tracks annual american indian student percentage from 2015 to 2022 for Invest Collegiate Transform vs. North Carolina and Invest Collegiate School District

Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBSTP1300) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about shares, net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

The value of the DJIA index amounted to ****** at the end of June 2025, up from ********* at the end of March 2020. Global panic about the coronavirus epidemic caused the drop in March 2020, which was the worst drop since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Dow Jones Industrial Average index – additional information The Dow Jones Industrial Average index is a price-weighted average of 30 of the largest American publicly traded companies on New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and includes companies like Goldman Sachs, IBM and Walt Disney. This index is considered to be a barometer of the state of the American economy. DJIA index was created in 1986 by Charles Dow. Along with the NASDAQ 100 and S&P 500 indices, it is amongst the most well-known and used stock indexes in the world. The year that the 2018 financial crisis unfolded was one of the worst years of the Dow. It was also in 2008 that some of the largest ever recorded losses of the Dow Jones Index based on single-day points were registered. On September 29, 2008, for instance, the Dow had a loss of ****** points, one of the largest single-day losses of all times. The best years in the history of the index still are 1915, when the index value increased by ***** percent in one year, and 1933, year when the index registered a growth of ***** percent.

This dataset provides values for INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT STOCK PERCENT OF POPULATION WB DATA.HTMLES reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This data-set has data spanning from 2013 till 2018. The S&P 500 stock market index, maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, comprises 505 common stocks issued by 500 large-cap companies and traded on American stock exchanges, and covers about 80 percent of the American equity market by capitalization. The index is weighted by free-float market capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more of the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although the index is called the S&P "500", the index contains 505 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from 5 of its component companies.

The dataset comprises of all the S&P 500 components with the records created for each stock's open and closing rate spanning from last 5 years.

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The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost ** trillion U.S. dollars as of November 2025. The following largest three exchanges were the NASDAQ, PINK Exchange, and the Frankfurt Exchange. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.