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How to Use Newspaper Listings
Sometimes, understanding the stock, bond and mutual fund listings in the local newspaper can be challenging. The information in this section is designed to help you decode the listings.
Your local newspaper probably lists results from the major markets in the country. Although they may appear to be written in code, the listings are fairly easy to understand once you know what all the abbreviations mean. Newspaper listings can be helpful when you are trying to determine the value of your portfolio or for keeping track of what’s happening to the securities you own.
In general, you can multiply the number of shares of a particular stock or mutual fund that you own by the closing price listed in the newspaper to determine the value of your account as of that day. Most long–term investors don’t find it necessary to check on the daily value of their fund shares, because they know that daily gains and losses in the share price don’t really tell you how the fund is performing over an extended period of time.
Some newspapers provide more information than others. For general information about how to read newspaper listings, click on a subject below:
Newspaper Stock Listings
Newspaper Bond Listings
Newspaper Money Market Listings
Newspaper Mutual Fund Listings
Newspaper Stock Listings
Stock name: Most major companies are listed in the newspaper alphabetically by an abbreviation. For example, General Motors is listed as GenMotor, McDonald’s Restaurants is MCD and Microsoft is MSFT.
Div.: The “dividend” column tells you the annual cash payment per share that the company is expected to make to stockholders. A letter listed after the number may help clarify when the dividend was paid, for example, or whether the rate has increased. Look for a box within the stock tables to help you translate what the letters mean.
P/E: The price/earnings ratio is calculated by taking the last closing price of the stock and dividing it by the earnings per share for the last four quarters. The p/e ratio is an indicator of how much an investor is paying for a company’s earning power.
Sales: This number tells you how many shares of a particular stock were traded the day before, based on 100–share lots. For example, a listing of 1,400 means that 140,000 shares were traded during the day.
High, Low and Close: The “high” and “low” columns tell you the highest and lowest prices for which the stock sold on the previous business day. The “close” column tells you the closing price on that day.
Change: The “change” column shows you the difference between the current closing price and the closing price on the previous trading day. Plus (+) indicates an increase in share price; minus (–) indicates a decrease.
One–year percent return: This figure gives you the year–to–date performance of the stock, assuming reinvestment of all distributions and without reflecting sales charges.
In addition to this general information, you also may find a number of footnotes used in the stock tables. Check your newspaper for translations of these footnotes.
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Newspaper Bond Listings
Bond name: Bonds are listed alphabetically by an abbreviation of the name of the company issuing the bond. The abbreviations can differ from those used for the same companies in the stock tables. The first number following the name is the interest rate, which refers to a percentage of the par value. (Par value is the amount the issuer will repay the bondholder when the bond comes due. The par value of most corporate bonds is $1,000. Thus, the annual interest payment on a 10 1/8% bond will be $101.25.)
The last two digits in the listing, following the abbreviated name and the interest rate, show the year in which the bond principal will be paid off (mature). It’s assumed that the first two digits of the year are dropped. For example, 1998 is shown as “98” and 2011 is abbreviated to “11.”s = Sometimes appears after the interest rate and is simply used to separate the interest rate figure from the following numbers.zr = When “zr” appears where the interest rate should be, the bond is a zero–coupon bond. Zero–coupons pay no periodic interest because interest accumulates until maturity.
Cur Yld: This figure represents the percentage of interest an investor would earn if buying the bond at its current price. If the price is below par, the yield is higher than the stated interest rate; if the price is higher than par, the yield will be lower.
Vol: Bond volume reports the dollar value of the previous day’s trading, in thousands of dollars.
Close: This figure shows the price at which the bond closed on the previous trading day.
Net Chg.: This column shows the difference between the current closing price and the closing price on the previous trading day. Plus (+) indicates an increase in the price of the bond; minus (–) indicates a decrease. It’s stated as a fraction and is based on the par value of the bond.
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Newspaper Money Market Listings
Fund name: Money Market fund names are listed in alphabetical order; they also are abbreviated.
Avg. Mat.: The average maturity column looks at the maturity dates of all the investments held in the fund’s portfolio and then determines an average number of days to maturity.
7–Day Yld.: The 7–day yield is calculated based on the income generated by an investment in the fund over a seven day period and is expressed as an annual percentage rate.
Chg.: The change column indicates the difference between the current 7–day yield and the 7–day yield from the previous trading day. Plus (+) indicates an increase in the yield; minus (–) indicates a decrease.
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Newspaper Mutual Fund Listings
Fund names: Mutual funds are listed alphabetically by the fund company’s name with individual funds listed under the company’s name.
NAV: “Net Asset Value” is the value of the securities held in the fund’s portfolio divided by the number of shares held by fund shareholders. NAV tells you how much each share of the fund is worth.
Obj.: Your newspaper may list the objective of the fund. Abbreviations, such as “CP” for “capital appreciation” or “EI” for “equity–income,” are used and translations can be found at the beginning of the listing.
Change: The change column tells you how much the net asset value of the fund has changed since the previous trading day. Plus (+) indicates an increase in share price; minus (–) indicates a decrease.
Return: This figure shows the fund’s percentage gain or loss for the period indicated.
Footnotes: Symbols after the fund names provide you with important information about the fund, for example:
e = Ex–distribution. The price is quoted after ordinary income or capital gains distributions were paid, affecting share price.
f = Current closing price information isn’t available. Information quoted is from the previous day.
p = The fund has a 12b–1 fee, a fee charged by some mutual funds for advertising and promotion expenses.
r = A redemption charge or deferred sales charge may apply.
s = Stock dividend or stock split has been made.
t = The fund has both a 12b–1 fee and a deferred sales charge or redemption fee.
x = Quote is based on ex–dividend value, which reflects what the share price will be after distributions are paid. Except for market fluctuations, if you reinvest your distributions, the value of your account will be the same immediately before and after a distribution. The value of your shares includes the amount of any income earned and capital gains realized by the fund. When such income and gains are distributed, the value of your shares is reduced by the amount of the distribution.
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