Can anyone help, I would really like to know...!?

Question

What is nasdaq and dow, i have no idea and would really like to know.

Answer 1

NASDAQ (which stands for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System") is an organization that assists people in trading stocks.

Stocks (sometimes called "shares") are basically a piece of a company that someone buys. For instance, if you buy a stock in Google for $30, then you wait a few years while Google gets richer and its stocks are worth more, you can sell that same stock for $60 and basically double your money. That's how people can make money off of stocks - they buy thousands of them for hundreds of thousands of dollars, then sell them back for a lot more money than they bought them for. But it's dangerous - you never know if that company is going to keep doing well the next day, and many people lose all their money because their company shuts down and their stocks are worth $0.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, on the other hand, is the summary of how all stocks in America are doing. If stocks are worth more, the nation is considered to be doing well and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is high (usually the news will put a + sign if the Dow rises, which is a good thing). If the Dow falls because stocks aren't worth as much, the nation is considered to be in a recession (when the economy in a steady decline) or a depression (when the economy is completely hopeless and hardly anyone has a job). In this case, the Dow will be steadily falling as the economy goes into a recession or depression. The news will put a - sign by the Dow Average to show this.

I hope that wasn't too long and/or boring. :)