Stock quotes are nothing more than numerical representations of the value of a share of a business.

So what is "stock" anyway? Think of it as a "share" in the ownership of a publicly-traded company. "Publicly-traded" means that a company has placed shares of their company for trade in public trading markets like the NYSE or the NASDAQ.

Stock itself is a claim on a company's assets and earning-power. When an individual acquires more and more of a company's stock, their share of ownership in the company is larger. There's lots of different words for stock, like "shares" and "equity", but it's all the same thing.

Stock quotes are numerical representations of the financial value of a single share of a company. During a day on any financial market, the value of different stocks goes up and down as stock brokers buy and sell stocks to earn profit.

Stock quotes are available live, on stock tickers, and on computer screens across the world. They're most commonly examined in the financial section of a newspaper or some other news report.

A stock quote is literally the financial value of a small part of a company.

A share of stock was once a physical thing -- a stock certificate, elegantly dressed up like a college degree. These days, rather than drag all those sheets of paper for trading, this information is stored in brokerage firms' computers as electronic records, so there's no need for carrying around a physical piece of paper representing a share of stock.

Shares are much easier to trade with this electronic method.

Reading stock quotes may seem complicated, but once you know what all the different figures mean, you're in business. Learning to read these quotes is like learning to read a code. Depending on your newspaper's style, there can be as many as twelve columns of numbers across the page for each stock that is listed. Here is what each column means. Learn what each column means, and you can be reading stock like a pro.

Stock quotes are a big part of the life of an investor. If you're interested in getting into investment, start looking at the financial page of your newspaper.