stock index

The 30-stock index represents the market to many people. But few of the stocks are worth buying, and a third should be dumped fast. If you don't own them, why follow them?

Funds that invest in China have soared an average 64% this year, vs. 22% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.

Are you too late? Probably not but be cautious.

International investing has become enormously popular, in large part because domestic investing has been so incredibly dreary.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has gained an average 7.6% per year the past three years, vs. 17.1% a year for the MSCI Europe, Australasia and Far East index.

Exchange-traded notes are a relatively new development. The value of an ETN depends on the movements of a stock index or, sometimes, even an individual stock.

And, as you might have guessed from their name, ETNs trade on the stock exchange typically, the American Stock Exchange.

You would have made more money investing in a loaf of bread the past year than by investing in the stock market.