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.

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 June 2025. The following 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.

Interactive chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stock market index for the last 100 years. Historical data is inflation-adjusted using the headline CPI and each data point represents the month-end closing value. The current month is updated on an hourly basis with today's latest value.

The average for 2022 based on 74 countries was 1244.55 billion U.S. dollars. The highest value was in the USA: 40297.98 billion U.S. dollars and the lowest value was in Bermuda: 0.21 billion U.S. dollars. The indicator is available from 1975 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

China's main stock market index, the SHANGHAI, rose to 3520 points on July 14, 2025, gaining 0.27% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 3.86% and is up 18.35% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from China. China Shanghai Composite Stock Market Index - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on July of 2025.

While the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused all major stock market indices to fall sharply in March 2020, both the extent of the decline at this time, and the shape of the subsequent recovery, have varied greatly. For example, on March 15, 2020, major European markets and traditional stocks in the United States had shed around 40 percent of their value compared to January 5, 2020. However, Asian markets and the NASDAQ Composite Index only shed around 20 to 25 percent of their value. A similar story can be seen with the post-coronavirus recovery. As of November 14, 2021 the NASDAQ composite index value was around 65 percent higher than in January 2020, while most other markets were only between 20 and 40 percent higher.

Why did the NASDAQ recover the quickest?

Based in New York City, the NASDAQ is famously considered a proxy for the technology industry as many of the world’s largest technology industries choose to list there. And it just so happens that technology was the sector to perform the best during the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, many of the largest companies who benefitted the most from the pandemic such as Amazon, PayPal and Netflix, are listed on the NADSAQ, helping it to recover the fastest of the major stock exchanges worldwide.

Which markets suffered the most?

The energy sector was the worst hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, oil companies share prices suffered large declines over 2020 as demand for oil plummeted while workers found themselves no longer needing to commute, and the tourism industry ground to a halt. In addition, overall share prices in two major stock exchanges – the London Stock Exchange (as represented by the FTSE 100 index) and Hong Kong (as represented by the Hang Seng index) – have notably recovered slower than other major exchanges. However, in both these, the underlying issue behind the slower recovery likely has more to do with political events unrelated to the coronavirus than it does with the pandemic – namely Brexit and general political unrest, respectively.

The value of global domestic equity market increased from 65.04 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 124.63 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 2024. Global market capitalization in different regions The market capitalization of domestic companies listed varied across different regions of the world. As of Decmber 2024, the Americas region had the largest domestic equity market, totaling 62 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 60 billion U.S. dollars as of January 2025, larger than the total market capitalization in the Asia-Pacific, and in the EMEA regions in the same period. Largest Stock Exchanges in Latin America As of December 2024, the B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcao) was the biggest stock exchange in Latin America in terms of market capitalization and the second-largest in terms of number of listed companies. Following the B3 were the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile. The most valuable company in Latin America is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange: Fomento Económico Mexicano, a multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, had market cap of 177 billion U.S. dollars as of March 2025.

Japan's main stock market index, the JP225, fell to 39432 points on July 14, 2025, losing 0.35% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 2.93%, though it remains 4.47% lower than a year ago, 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 July of 2025.

Interactive chart illustrating the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) market index over the last ten years. Each point of the stock market graph is represented by the daily closing price for the DJIA. Historical data can be downloaded via the red button on the upper left corner of the chart.

The value of the DJIA index amounted to ********* at the end of March 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.

Stock market return (%, year-on-year) in United Kingdom was reported at 14.38 % in 2021, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United Kingdom - Stock market return (%, year-on-year) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

The average for 2021 based on 87 countries was 32.21 percent. The highest value was in Venezuela: 991.39 percent and the lowest value was in Botswana: -6.38 percent. The indicator is available from 1984 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Prices for Global Equity Index including live quotes, historical charts and news. Global Equity Index was last updated by Trading Economics this July 13 of 2025.

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.

The oil stock market chart provides a visual representation of the performance and trends in the oil stock market. It helps investors analyze the performance of the oil sector, identify patterns, and make informed investment decisions. Learn more about how oil stock market charts work and their customization options.

United States US: Stocks Traded: Total Value data was reported at 39,785.881 USD bn in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 42,071.330 USD bn for 2016. United States US: Stocks Traded: Total Value data is updated yearly, averaging 17,934.293 USD bn from Dec 1984 (Median) to 2017, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 47,245.496 USD bn in 2008 and a record low of 1,108.421 USD bn in 1984. United States US: Stocks Traded: Total Value data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Financial Sector. The value of shares traded is the total number of shares traded, both domestic and foreign, multiplied by their respective matching prices. Figures are single counted (only one side of the transaction is considered). Companies admitted to listing and admitted to trading are included in the data. Data are end of year values converted to U.S. dollars using corresponding year-end foreign exchange rates.; ; World Federation of Exchanges database.; Sum; Stock market data were previously sourced from Standard & Poor's until they discontinued their 'Global Stock Markets Factbook' and database in April 2013. Time series have been replaced in December 2015 with data from the World Federation of Exchanges and may differ from the previous S&P definitions and methodology.

China: Stock market return, percent: The latest value from 2021 is 13.47 percent, an increase from 7.07 percent in 2020. In comparison, the world average is 32.21 percent, based on data from 87 countries. Historically, the average for China from 1991 to 2021 is 20.88 percent. The minimum value, -33.59 percent, was reached in 1994 while the maximum of 308.94 percent was recorded in 1992.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index dropped around ***** points in the four weeks from February 12 to March 11, 2020, but has since recovered and peaked at ********* points as of November 24, 2024. In February 2020 - just prior to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the DJIA index stood at a little over ****** points. U.S. markets suffer as virus spreads The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a turbulent period for stock markets – the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also recorded dramatic drops. At the start of February, some analysts remained optimistic that the outbreak would ease. However, the increased spread of the virus started to hit investor confidence, prompting a record plunge in the stock markets. The Dow dropped by more than ***** points in the week from February 21 to February 28, which was a fall of **** percent – its worst percentage loss in a week since October 2008. Stock markets offer valuable economic insights The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a stock market index that monitors the share prices of the 30 largest companies in the United States. By studying the performance of the listed companies, analysts can gauge the strength of the domestic economy. If investors are confident in a company’s future, they will buy its stocks. The uncertainty of the coronavirus sparked fears of an economic crisis, and many traders decided that investment during the pandemic was too risky.

France's main stock market index, the FR40, fell to 7829 points on July 11, 2025, losing 0.92% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 0.83% and is up 1.36% compared to the same time last year, 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 July of 2025.

New York Stock Exchange: Index: Dow Jones US Large Cap Total Stock Market Index data was reported at 12,988.120 NA in Apr 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 13,072.870 NA for Mar 2025. New York Stock Exchange: Index: Dow Jones US Large Cap Total Stock Market Index data is updated monthly, averaging 6,845.950 NA from Aug 2013 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 141 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14,146.240 NA in Jan 2025 and a record low of 3,846.950 NA in Aug 2013. New York Stock Exchange: Index: Dow Jones US Large Cap Total Stock Market Index data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Exchange Data International Limited. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.EDI.SE: New York Stock Exchange: Dow Jones: Monthly.