Stock FAQs

what makes a stock market go up and down

by Prof. Darren Zieme Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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If more people want to buy a stock (demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up. Conversely, if more people wanted to sell a stock than buy it, there would be greater supply than demand, and the price would fall. Understanding supply and demand is easy.

What determines if a stock goes up or down?

Technical Factors

  • Inflation. We mentioned it earlier as an input into the valuation multiple, but inflation is a huge driver from a technical perspective as well.
  • Economic Strength of Market and Peers. Company stocks tend to track with the market and with their sector or industry peers. ...
  • Substitutes. ...
  • Incidental Transactions. ...
  • Demographics. ...
  • Trends. ...
  • Liquidity. ...

How does a stock price actually go up or down?

Stock prices go up and down based on supply and demand. When people want to buy a stock versus selling it, the price goes up. If people want to sell a stock versus buying it, the price goes down. Forecasting whether there will be more buyers or sellers in a stock requires additional research, however. Buyers are attracted to stocks for any number of reasons, from low valuation to new product ...

What to do if your stocks are all falling?

Specifically, whether a stock is cheap relative to profits and cash flow. When they spot one of these stocks, they buy it for their clients. That helps support the stock’s valuation floor—and eventually helps push the stock price back up. If a quality company becomes super cheap and stays there, it also becomes an acquisition target.

What is a stock that almost never goes down?

Stocks prices always fluctuates so to say it almost never goes down is kind of hard to find. However, stocks that has a great business that almost never goes down, well there is a lot of these around. A stock that almost never goes down is a company that can sell its product or services in a recession.

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Why does the stock market go up and down together?

In the short term, stocks go up and down because of the law of supply and demand. Billions of shares of stock are bought and sold each day, and it's this buying and selling that sets stock prices.

How do you predict if a stock will go up or down?

Major Indicators that Predict Stock Price MovementIncrease/Decrease in Mutual Fund Holding. ... Influence of FPI & FII on Stock Price Movement. ... Delivery Percentage in Stock Trading Volume. ... Increase/Decrease in Promoter Holding. ... Change in Business model/Promoters/Venturing into New Business.More items...•

Which factors can affect a stock's price?

Factors that can affect stock pricesnews releases on earnings and profits, and future estimated earnings.announcement of dividends.introduction of a new product or a product recall.securing a new large contract.employee layoffs.anticipated takeover or merger.a change of management.accounting errors or scandals.

What drives a stock price up?

If more people want to buy a stock (demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up. Conversely, if more people wanted to sell a stock than buy it, there would be greater supply than demand, and the price would fall.

What controls a stock price?

supply and demandAfter a company goes public, and its shares start trading on a stock exchange, its share price is determined by supply and demand for its shares in the market. If there is a high demand for its shares due to favorable factors, the price will increase.

What are the 4 major market forces?

These factors are government, international transactions, speculation and expectation, and supply and demand.

What's the best way to pick stocks?

7 things an investor should consider when picking stocks:Trends in earnings growth.Company strength relative to its peers.Debt-to-equity ratio in line with industry norms.Price-earnings ratio as an indicator of valuation.How the company treats dividends.Effectiveness of executive leadership.More items...

Who influences the stock market?

Economics. Macro-economic factors such as interest rates, inflation, unemployment and economic growth often move stock markets. Stock markets are always rooting for more economic growth, because it usually means more profits for companies, and more profits tend to grow the value of stocks.

Learn why the stock market and individual stocks tend to fluctuate and how you can use that information to become a better investor

Tim writes about technology and consumer goods stocks for The Motley Fool. He's a value investor at heart, doing his best to avoid hyped-up nonsense. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @TMFBargainBin

What affects stock price?

High demand for a stock drives the stock price higher, but what causes that high demand in the first place? It's all about how investors feel:

The big picture is what matters

Long-term investors, like those of us at The Motley Fool, don't much care about the short-term developments that push stock prices up and down each trading day. When you have years or even decades to let your money grow, analyst reports and earnings beats are often fleeting and irrelevant.

What is Stock Price?

Stock price refers to the current price that a share of stock is trading at.

Why do stock prices go up and down?

The price of any product being sold in the market is set by the demand and supply of the particular product.

Why do stock prices go up and down – Key factors that affect

The earnings of a company are calculated from a company’s profits. Almost all the investors are unable to invest in a profitable company. The Stock prices show the actual value of the future earnings expectations of the company.

Reasons that cause an increase in demand

When Such a Thing Happens, Retailers can Buy the Share with more ease, This Automatically Increases the Volume, i.e., Demand Increases.

Pro Tip

Investing always carries some risk. That’s why it’s a good idea to spread out your investments among many different stocks.

Fundamental Factors

The two most fundamental factors boil down to profitability and the valuation ratio, says Juan Pablo Villamarin, CFA and senior investment analyst at Intercontinental Wealth Advisors.

Technical Factors

Technical factors are things that change the supply and demand of the stock that won’t fundamentally alter the prospects of generating cash, Plumb says.

News

If you’ve ever seen a company’s stock price go up or down following an earnings call, it’s because of the news.

Market Sentiment

Market sentiment, or investor sentiment, is the investor outlook regarding a particular stock’s performance in the market. Sentiment drives demand, which also influences supply.

How Often Does the Stock Market Fluctuate?

The stock market fluctuates daily, even on days where the market is closed. Larger swings in the U.S. tend to happen around the first week of each month when The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its report on change in employment levels — a recent hot-topic through the economic recovery from the pandemic.

What Are the Best Stock Market Indicators?

The world has become increasingly globalized. As such events and trading in Asia and Europe can often affect U.S. stocks. U.S. exchanges are only open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST, meaning that U.S. exchanges are not representing ongoing global shifts 73% of the day, despite U.S. equities being traded around the clock. Trading on U.S.

Where Can I Find Important Market Information Ahead of the Market Open?

Benzinga hosts a PreMarket Prep show every morning ahead of the open. The show is a live, premarket interactive show with two veteran traders and featured finance industry guests discussing market movers, key technical levels and trading ideas.

Market Moving News

It is crucial for investors to always have an understanding of current economic conditions and to keep up to date with recent events that can move markets. To stay on top of the markets, come to Benzinga for all things stock market.

Methodology

For brokerage reviews, Benzinga created a weighted scale based on the following criteria: usability, services offered, customer service, education, research, mobile app, account minimums and fees. We aim to provide the most up-to-date, impactful and trustworthy reviews. For an in-depth look at our process, read the full methodology process.

Why do stocks move up?

Often a stock simply moves according to a short-term trend. On the one hand, a stock that is moving up can gather momentum, as "success breeds success" and popularity buoys the stock higher. On the other hand, a stock sometimes behaves the opposite way in a trend and does what is called reverting to the mean. Unfortunately, because trends cut both ways and are more obvious in hindsight, knowing that stocks are "trendy" does not help us predict the future.

What drives stock prices?

Stock prices are driven by a variety of factors, but ultimately the price at any given moment is due to the supply and demand at that point in time in the market. Fundamental factors drive stock prices based on a company's earnings and profitability from producing and selling goods and services. Technical factors relate to a stock's price history ...

What is earnings base?

An earnings base, such as earnings per share (EPS) A valuation multiple, such as a P/E ratio. An owner of common stock has a claim on earnings, and earnings per share (EPS) is the owner's return on their investment. When you buy a stock, you are purchasing a proportional share of an entire future stream of earnings.

Why is low inflation bad for stocks?

2  Deflation, on the other hand, is generally bad for stocks because it signifies a loss in pricing power for companies.

Why do you buy stock with a valuation multiple?

That's the reason for the valuation multiple: It is the price you are willing to pay for the future stream of earnings. 1:26.

Where are stock prices determined?

Stock prices are determined in the marketplace, where seller supply meets buyer demand. But have you ever wondered about what drives the stock market—that is, what factors affect a stock's price? Unfortunately, there is no clean equation that tells us exactly how a stock price will behave.

Do company stocks track with the market?

Company stocks tend to track with the market and with their sector or industry peers. Some prominent investment firms argue that the combination of overall market and sector movements—as opposed to a company's individual performance—determines a majority of a stock's movement.

Why do stock prices go up and down?

Stock prices go up and down based on supply and demand. When people want to buy a stock versus selling it, the price goes up. If people want to sell a stock versus buying it, the price goes down. Forecasting whether there will be more buyers or sellers in a stock requires additional research, however. Buyers are attracted to stocks ...

Why do stocks go up?

Sometimes, stocks go up simply because they have been going up. In a strategy known as momentum investing, investors buy shares in rising stocks and sell shares in those that are following. This momentum builds on itself and continues to drive rising share prices higher.

Why are buyers attracted to stocks?

Buyers are attracted to stocks for any number of reasons, from low valuation to new product lines to market hype. Learning how the stock exchange works is the first step in understanding the factors that make a stock go up and down; knowing what makes stocks valuable can help you predict which ones are more likely to rise.

What attracts buyers to a stock?

One of the factors that attracts buyers to a stock is valuation . Companies can be valued in a number of different ways, but earnings per share and P/E ratio are two common factors in the equation.

What is stock in business?

A stock is simply an ownership share in a physical company. Stock shares allow investors to buy or sell an interest in a company on an exchange through a bidding process. Sellers indicate prices at which they are asking to give up their shares, and buyers similarly post prices at which they’re bidding to buy shares.

What happens after a trade at $10.10?

After the first trade at $10.10, there are no more sellers willing to accept such a low price. The next trade occurs at $10.20, as the demand to pay a higher price exceeds the willingness of sellers to accept a lower price.

What does earnings per share mean?

Earnings per share represent a company’s profitability. Generally speaking, investors are more interested in companies with rising earnings. Earnings per share is also a metric for comparison to other companies in a particular industry.

Why do stocks go up and down?

Because human emotion plays a critical role in what makes a stock go up or down during the short term, investors are wise to invest where expectations are low and positive surprises are likely.

Why are stocks priced based on current operating results?

In any investment, investors are betting on the future. Because the future is uncertain, stocks cannot be priced based on a business's current operating results alone.

What happens if a value stock's fundamentals increase?

If a value stock's fundamentals unexpectedly increase, not only will its operating results improve, but investors' future expectations will be raised as a result. Contrarily, a growth stock's fundamentals are already expected to increase. Any improvement in operating results is already priced into the stock.

What is the difference between a low price ratio and a high price ratio?

Low price ratios anticipate negative futures (decreased profits) and high price ratios anticipate positive futures (increased profits). Therefore, stocks with low price ratios have more upside potential. On the flip side, stocks with high price ratios have nowhere to go but down.

What are the three scenarios for stock futures?

Scenario #1: A company's operating results will increase. Scenario #2: A company's operating results will remain constant.

Can stock analysts predict the future?

No matter how badly stock analysts pretend to be fortune tellers, no one can accurately forecast a company's future performance (especially on a consistent basis). Charles Duhigg, in his book Smarter, Faster, Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, summarizes the reality of what the future is.

Do stock prices go up or down?

To summarize, stock prices go up or down depending on changes in operating results and the levels of its price ratios. The interesting thing is that changes in operating results most often trigger changes in price ratios. Because the future is hard to predict, operating results often differ (sometimes greatly) from what investors expect them to be.

Why are stocks going down?

Political issues, economic concerns, earnings disappointments and countless other reasons can send stocks lower or higher. But over the long term, stock prices will be driven by just a handful of fundamental factors such as earnings growth and changes in valuation.

Why are stocks volatile?

Stocks were volatile around the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections as investors waited to see which administration would be in charge for the next four years. But often, the reaction of markets isn’t obvious and traders can quickly shift their attention to a new topic of concern or excitement.

What is the effect of higher discount rates on valuation?

Higher discount rates lower the valuation investors are willing to pay. An investor who demands a 12 percent return is willing to pay less for the same asset as an investor who requires only an 8 percent return. The change in valuation can have a big impact on investors’ returns over time.

Why do companies share their earnings with shareholders?

Mature companies tend to share more of their earnings with shareholders in the form of dividends or share repurchases because they aren’t able to deploy it themselves at attractive rates of return.

What is technical analysis in stock trading?

This analysis uses recent price movements and chart patterns in an effort to predict a stock’s future direction. Technical analysis can influence a stock’s price over the short term, but ultimately its value will come from the long-term earnings power of the business.

What is the key contributor to a company's return?

A key contributor to your return is the company’s growth in profits. This will be driven by the growth rate of the overall economy as well as the circumstances of the specific business.

How has online retail benefited from the shifts in the way people shop?

Some businesses, such as online retail, have benefited from massive shifts in the way people shop, creating long runways for growth. Others, such as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are challenged by the changing competitive landscape and may struggle to grow or even maintain their earnings.

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