Mutual Funds
Next 
What are indexes?
Indexes are statistical measures of how certain groups of stocks or bonds are performing. Indexes are
unmanaged. There are dozens of different indexes, but the most commonly known include the following:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA or The Dow) — measures the performance
of 30 widely traded blue chip stocks.
- Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Stocks Prices Index (S&P 500) — tracks 500
of the largest stocks in the country, and is a widely-used measure of the overall U.S. equity market.
- NASDAQ Composite Index — tracks the more than 5,000 companies listed on
the NASDAQ stock market, and is heavily weighted toward technology stocks.
- EAFE (Europe Australasia Far East) — tracks stocks in developed markets in
Europe, Australasia and the Far East.
- Lehman Municipal Bond Index — tracks the performance of 8,000
investment-grade, fixed-rate, long-term municipal bonds.
- Lehman Aggregate Bond Index — tracks government, mortgage-backed,
asset-backed and corporate securities with maturities of over one year. The most widely-used bond
index.