The stock market is an ever-changing and dynamic sector of the economy that can be daunting to new investors and professionals alike. Understanding the different markets can be overwhelming, so it is important to know where to look for reliable and up-to-date data and charts. This article looks at three key indicators that help paint a picture of the stock market today: market breadth, bond yields, and sentiment indicators.
Market breadth is a measure of how well distributed among companies stock market gains and losses are. A breadth indicator looks at the number of stocks within the market that advance and decline on a certain day or over a certain period of time. A breadth indicator will be more helpful if its readings are compared over time, allowing for insight on whether or not the market is becoming more or less concentrated on certain companies.
Bond yields act as a sort of litmus test for investors, as a rising bond yield indicates that investors are becoming more confident in the issuance and payment ability of a company while falling yields would indicate reserve or wariness. Bond yields can be very telling of the overall market sentiment: a decrease in bond yield could mean the market is selling off and a high bond yield could indicate high demand.
Finally, sentiment indicators can provide invaluable insight into how investors are viewing the stock market. These indicators measure investor sentiment by monitoring the number of online mentions, posts and discussions about the stock market on blogs, forums, news articles, and social media outlets. Analyzing these indicators provides useful insights on investor sentiment which can be used as an additional trading tool.
Overall, the stock market is an incredibly dynamic sector of the economy and it is important to stay up to date on the latest trends and indicators. Market breadth, bond yields, and sentiment indicators are just the three of the most important metrics to watch when analyzing the overall market. Understanding these key indicators can be the difference between a profitable portfolio and a loss-making one, so be sure to monitor them closely.