Financial Terms / I - J / Index

Index

An index is a basket of securities, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, etc., that tracks the performance of the underlying assets. For example, the S&P 500 consists of the 500 largest publicly listed companies in the U.S. and is used as a proxy for how the U.S. stock market is performing.

Indexes are also used to represent specific sectors such as manufacturing, medical, metals, technology, etc., as well as different types of assets such as bonds, stocks, real estate, commodities, etc.