Index (economics)

In economics, statistics, and finance, an index is a number that measures how a group of related data points, such as prices, company performance, productivity, or employment, changes over time, condensing complex economic activity into a single figure that can be compared across periods and contexts. Consumer focused indices include the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the retail price of goods and services in a fixed area, the cost of living index, which compares living expenses across time or geography, and the Big Mac Index, which uses hamburger prices to compare currency values and purchasing power. Market performance indices track company value and employment trends, including stock market indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 for United States firms and the Global Dow and NASDAQ Composite for major companies worldwide, alongside commodity indices tracking goods such as oil or gold and bond indices monitoring debt markets. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/