Euro Stoxx 50 moves on positive ground at the start of operations on March 14

Bullish opening for EuroStoxx 50, which opens the session on Monday 14 March with notable increases of 1.25%, to 3,732.79 points, after the start of the opening session. Compared to previous days, the EuroStoxx 50 adds two successive sessions of earnings.

Taking into account the last seven days, the EuroStoxx 50 marks an increase of 6.28%; on the other hand, in year-on-year terms it still accumulates a decrease of 2.46%. The EuroStoxx 50 is 15.01% below its year-to-date maximum (4,392.15 points) and 6.49% above its minimum valuation for the current year (3,505.29 points).

A stock market index is an indicator used to show the evolution of the value of a set of assets, for which it takes data from various companies or sectors of a part of the market.

These indicators are mainly used by stock exchanges in various countries and each of them can be integrated by firms with specific characteristics such as having a similar market capitalization or belonging to the same industry, also, there are some indices that only consider a handful of shares for determine their value or others that consider hundreds of shares.

Stock indices serve as an indicator of confidence in the stock market, business confidence, the health of the national and global economy, and the performance of investments in shares and holdings of an entity. Generally, if investors are not confident, equity costs would tend to fall.

They also work to measure the performance of an asset manager and allow investors to analyze comparisons between profitability and risk; measure opportunities for a financial asset; or create portfolios.

These types of indicators began to be used in the late 19th century after journalist Charles H. Dow. he carefully saw how the shares of companies tended to rise or fall together in price, so he created two indexes: one containing the 20 most important railway companies (since it was the most important industry of the time), as well as 12 shares of other types of businesses

Currently, there are several indices in our economy and they can be grouped according to their geography, sectors, company size or even type of asset. For example, the US Nasdaq index is composed of the 100 largest companies largely related to technologies such as Apple (AAPL), Microsoft ( MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOG), Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), PayPal (PYPL), Comcast (CMCSA), Adobe (ADBE).

Each stock index has its own way of calculating itself, but the main factor is the market capitalization of each company that integrates it. This is taken out by multiplying the value of the day of the title on the corresponding exchange by the total number of shares that are in the market.

The firms listed on the stock exchange are obliged to present a balance sheet of their composition. This report should be published every three or six months, as the case may be.

Reading a stock index also requires paying attention to its changes over time. Current indices always appear with a fixed value based on stock prices on their start date, but not all of them follow this method. Therefore, it can give way to inaccuracies.

If one index sees an increase of 500 points in a day, while another only adds 20, it might seem that the former had a better return. However, if the first started the day at 30,000 points and the other at 300, it can be assumed that, in percentage terms, the gains for the second were more remarkable.

Among the main US stock indices is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, better known as Dow Jones, which is made up of 30 companies, the S&P 500, which includes 500 of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Finally, we must not forget the Nasdaq 100, which brings together 100 of the largest non-financial firms.

On the other hand, the most prominent indices in Europe are the Eurostoxx 50, which covers the 50 most important companies in the eurozone. In addition, the DAX 30, the main German index containing the strongest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; the FTSE 100 of the London Stock Exchange; the CAC 40 of the Paris Stock Exchange; and the IBEX 35, of the Spanish stock exchange.

In Asia, the main stock market indices are the Nikkei 225, made up of the 225 largest companies on the Tokyo stock exchange. In addition, there is the SSE Composite Index, which is listed as the main one in China, made up of the most important companies on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Similarly, mention should be made of the Hang Seung Index in Hong Kong and the KOSPI in South Korea.

As far as Latin America is concerned, we have the CPI, which contains the 35 most consolidated firms on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). At least a third of them are owned by magnate Carlos Slim.

Another is the Bovespa, made up of the 50 most important companies on the Sao Paulo stock exchange; the Merval of Argentina; the IPSA of Chile; the IGBC in Bogotá; the IBC of Caracas, made up of 6 companies from Venezuela.

There are also other types of global stock indices such as MSCI Latin America, which includes the 137 most important companies in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

There is also the MSCI World, which includes 1,600 companies from 23 developed countries; the MSCI Emerging Markets, made up of more than 800 companies from developing countries; and the S&P Global 100, made up of the 100 most powerful multinational firms on the planet.

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