Stock market basics
With all this talk about the stock market. On this website, on other sites, on news shows, how about we just go back to the basics!
The American stock market is located on Wall Street in New York, New York. This is where people buy and sell parts [shares] of various companies. Thankfully, these days you do not have to be in New York or anywhere close to NY to buy and sell stocks. You can do so online or through a stock broker.
A share of stock is just a tiny piece of a company. For example: Company XYZ sells for 50 dollars a share and they have 1,000 shares of their company. This means their company is perceived to be worth $50,000. If you think that company XYZ is worth more than $50,000 dollars, it is probably a pretty good idea to buy shares of the company. If you think the company is worth less, pass the company over and keep on looking!
In the short term it is tough for most, if not everyone to try to see what direction a stock is going to go in. But in the longer term 1+ years someone who knows what they are doing and someone who has done enough research should be able to tell the direction of a stock more often then not.
Those are the basics of the stock market, but there is still a lot to learn! Check out some of my other posts.