Answers to Go with Susan Smith

Q. My favorite radio station includes a stock report at the end of each day. The announcer says that the Dow is up three points or the New York Stock Exchange is down a point. What is a “point”? Some part of a percent?

A. I did a keyword search of our online catalog with the terms: stock market point. Up popped “Wall Street Words: An Essential A to Z Guide for Today’s Investor” by David L. Scott.

Scott defines point as a “measure of security price changes. In the case of stock and stock averages, a point usually means a change of $1; for bonds, a point refers to a $10 movement for a $1,000 bond.”