| Frustrated by all the symbols in a stock quote? | | | | Open: Price the stock opened at today or if |
| Here's a basic overview to reading a stock quote | | | | weekend or holiday last day it traded |
| on Yahoo Finance. | | | | Bid: What various investors are looking to buy the |
| If you're like many new stock market investors | | | | stock for at the current moment |
| you are learning all sorts of new things, one of | | | | Ask: What various investors are willing to sell the |
| the many things you need to know is how to | | | | stock for at the current moment |
| read a stock quote. | | | | 1 yr Est: Estimate for the stock's price in one |
| Yahoo Finance has a nice stock quote page, | | | | year's time |
| please follow along and go to this web page and | | | | Day's Range: The range in price the stock has |
| find out what everything means. | | | | traded that day |
| Near the top of the page it will tell you that you | | | | 52wk Range: Stock price from low to high over |
| are looking up Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) this tells us | | | | the past year of trading |
| what company we are looking at. You will then | | | | Volume: Number of shares of stock traded so far |
| see the last price (which is delayed 20 minutes) | | | | today |
| and you will see how much the stock has gone | | | | Avg. Vol (3m): Average number of shares traded |
| up or down for the day. | | | | each day for the past 3 months |
| If you scroll down the page you will find a table | | | | Market Cap: This is the market price for the |
| with a bunch of data. | | | | company take the number of shares outstanding |
| Last Trade: This is the last trade that happened | | | | and multiple by the price of the stock |
| on this stock (delayed 20 minutes) | | | | P/E: Price to earnings ratio |
| Trade Time: This is the date or the time of the | | | | EPS: Earnings per share |
| trade | | | | Div & Yield: The dividend (if any) that you could |
| Change: Amount the stock traded up or down in | | | | receive from the company for owning stock |
| dollars and percentage | | | | Those are the basic items on that Yahoo finance |
| Prev. Close: The amount the stock closed at the | | | | page; you can also find charts, headlines and |
| last day it traded. Generally the day before, unless | | | | some more background information on the |
| holiday or weekend | | | | company. |