Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Stock Market Investments Mechanism


Each time the stock market investment hits a high or a low, people hear about it. Daily statements are also issue the activities of the stock market and its relevant economic implications. People hear about stock market everyday. But what are stocks? What is a stock market, really ? And why people want to do stock market investments?

The stock market is a market place where trading of company stocks happens. Stock market investments allow companies and private individuals to get a share of ownership in large corporate. It’s also a way to gather large sum of investment capital which is difficult to produce if the business is solely owned. The large capital comes from the stock market investments.

Stocks are shares of a company or business which gets on sale in the stock market. Stock market investment happens when a person or institution buys a share of a company’s stocks that were put on sale in the stock market. And this investment will give the investors an equal share of profits by the end of the year and an equal vote in the company’s business decisions.

In the past, stock market investments were done by individual buyers and sellers, but nowadays the market participants evolved from individual investors to large corporations. This change in the stock market investments activities has also helped to control movements in the market.

To encourage stock market investments, a business that wishes to sell its stock to individuals and corporations should become corporation first.

The individual investors and big corporations who buy the shares of a business or corporation are called shareholders. They own the new incorporated business. Their stock market investments give them the authority to claim ownership of the business, they can now decide whether to privately or publicly hold their corporation.

In privately held company, the shareholders are few and probably know one another. And in the publicly held company, the shares are owned by a large number of people who do stock market investments on the public stock exchange.