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Dow 12 13.79%
S&P 500 72 82.76%
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Poll:Which major index means more to you?
Old 06-12-2013, 03:12 PM   #1
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Poll:Which major index means more to you?

If one of the three major stock market indexes is more meaningful to you, which one is it? The S&P 500 means a little more to me, mostly because it includes more companies than the Dow.
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:27 PM   #2
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S&P 500 is more representative of my diversified equities positions.
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:32 PM   #3
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S&P 500. It's roughly 4/5 of the total US market by capitalization, and it's simply capital weighted.

The Dow Industrials is the sum of the prices of one share of each of the companies currently in the index, times a 'multiplier' that adjusts for changes in the exact companies that make up the index. It is loosely coupled at best to the broad stock market.

The NASDAQ Index is a motley selection of non-financial companies heavily weighted towards 'tech' whatever that is, with a bunch of arbitrary multipliers cut in and out as companies change size, so as to meet the whims of fund managers. Yeah. That. Anyone remember NASDAQ 5000?
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:42 PM   #4
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The Dow, because even though it has changed and even though the S&P may represent a more diverse selection, I have been following the Dow for nearly sixty years.
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:56 PM   #5
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S&P for the reasons already stated.
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Old 06-12-2013, 04:03 PM   #6
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I watch the S&P 500 because it's available. But I'm about 50% international, so it's not terribly meaningful for me. Especially the last few weeks. My mom wants to hear points on the Dow instead of my percent of S&P 500, but her portfolio looks more like the S&P 500.
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Old 06-12-2013, 04:05 PM   #7
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I know the Dow (number history) best, and it's always reported, so it's the one I intuitively know magnitude and direction by numbers alone. But it doesn't really matter much IMO - they move together more often than not.
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Old 06-12-2013, 05:09 PM   #8
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I know the Dow (number history) best, and it's always reported, so it's the one I intuitively know magnitude and direction by numbers alone. But it doesn't really matter much IMO - they move together more often than not.
+1
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Old 06-12-2013, 05:23 PM   #9
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I know the Dow (number history) best, and it's always reported, so it's the one I intuitively know magnitude and direction by numbers alone. But it doesn't really matter much IMO - they move together more often than not.
I'm surprised they match so well! There's just the 'day trader hump', otherwise it's fairly lock-step on a macro view.
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Old 06-12-2013, 06:20 PM   #10
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The S&P 500 had to it's credit the Bogle Bump from 1995 to 2000 but the long history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the beauty of it's construction and stock selection would be the average that would be most upsetting to me if it were to go away. I think it would take a week to pick another index such as the Russell 1000 to replace the S&P500 as the S&P500 is really only useful to me as a mathematical comparison point.
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Old 06-12-2013, 06:31 PM   #11
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None of the above. Morningstar US market. Runs proportional to my portfolio, and I can get a very close estimate of my portfolio's performance during the day by glancing at it.
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Old 06-12-2013, 07:28 PM   #12
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I personally follow S&P Mid Cap 400 index and have 20% portfolio invested in this index mutual fund last 15 year. Very happy with the returns, understand the higher risk but the returns are nice too...looking to gradually move out next 5-10 years before FIREed
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Old 06-12-2013, 11:01 PM   #13
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S&P for the reasons already stated.
+1, but I have all 3 in a widget on my desktop.

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Old 06-12-2013, 11:44 PM   #14
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None of the major index numbers means anything to me as I don't follow them.
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Old 06-12-2013, 11:58 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by obgyn65 View Post
None of the major index numbers means anything to me as I don't follow them.
That's hardly a surprise obgyn

My domestic stock index fund closely tracks the S&P 500, so that's the index I pay more attention to.
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Old 06-13-2013, 07:00 AM   #16
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I was aware of the statistics that the DJIA and S&P500 have closely tracked each other over the years. But since I have a significant chunk of my stock holdings in Vanguard's S&P500 index fund, I had to vote for the S&P. It's the only index in the poll which directly relates to whether my investments gain or lose from day to day.
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Old 06-13-2013, 07:29 AM   #17
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I was aware of the statistics that the DJIA and S&P500 have closely tracked each other over the years.
So does the NASDAQ, it's just more volatile/higher beta...
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Old 06-13-2013, 08:14 AM   #18
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When I think of "the market" it is the SP500 on a daily % change basis -- as in the SP500 was up 1.1% today. Then I compare that to other holdings. Absolute values of the index are not on the radar screen.

But the real absolute value I follow is our portfolio value.
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Old 06-13-2013, 12:58 PM   #19
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SP500 - who cares about the DOW?

And my little pet peeve is that they report it in points! Only people who really follow markets have any idea what the points mean. They should really report it in percentages.

Saying the DOW is up 100 points while the SP500 is up 100 points doesn't mean what people thinks it means.
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Old 06-13-2013, 02:25 PM   #20
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Saying the DOW is up 100 points while the SP500 is up 100 points doesn't mean what people thinks it means.
+1

On more than one occasion (and one is too many) I've had to explain to someone that the Dow is not "better" because it gains more points.
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