As every wise investor knows, getting the right information regarding stocks gives you the knowledge you need to make sensible investment decisions. Unlike in the past, when investors had to rely on limited stock prices published in newspapers or broadcast on radio or television, the Internet today is full of real-time information about stocks. In some cases, quotes are delayed for a period not exceeding 30 minutes, during which time analysts summarize and publish accurate information about the shares. On different sites, one can easily find out why mutual funds, bonds, indices, stocks, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are traded. In addition to stock quotes, earnings reports, financial reports, brief interest reports, analyst coverage, and SEC filings on specific companies can be accessed from the web. Knowing the history of the company helps the investor decide if the stocks are strong enough to justify their investment.
Most stock quotes are freely accessible and all you have to do is identify the most informative site to use. To make the user experience even more rewarding, some of the sites that quote specific stock trading prices allow the user to download the information into computer applications such as OpenOffice and Microsoft Excel, among others. In the event that a site like Yahoo! Finance or MSN Money, you could examine the price quotes for a specific company by typing the company name in a provided text box. In cases where an investor wants to compare stock prices of different companies, he can type the names (or acronyms) of the companies that interest him and click the search icon.
For investors curious about where websites like Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money or DailyFinance.com obtain your information, it should be noted that the websites are based on more than 3,000 sources of information. Some of the sources transmit similar information to websites and therefore it is the website administrator’s job to compare the information and verify that only the most accurate is published on the website. Investors’ assessment of stock prices is enhanced by interactive charts posted on different financial websites on the Internet. Company events, such as financial gains and dividends delivered to shareholders, can also be used as a viable indicator regarding the financial performance of the company and therefore the level of risk associated with its actions.
On different financial websites, real-time stock quotes are available on stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the United States Stock Exchange (AMEX), and NASDAQ. To access quotes for other countries, you may need to search the specific stock exchanges where the shares are listed. With the Internet making the world a global village, investors interested in monitoring stocks can access stock prices in a similar way as they access national companies. This has made business for the supervising investor not only fast, but also effective.