Question

to use a newspaper to study and report on shares and dividends

Answer 1

While individuals for whom the stock market is literally their life, such as with brokers and investors (both major and minor, the latter often tracking and trading in so-called penny stocks), access to a ticker such as is provided on the bottom of the television screen on business-oriented networks like CNBC and Fox Business News is essential. Newspapers, prior to the advent of business-oriented television networks, were the primary means for the average citizen of tracking stocks over a period of time. The business sections of many newspapers included comprehensive listings of stocks for the New York Stock Exchange as well as for other major exchanges. With the introduction of cable television, however, and with the Internet, data on stocks could be reliably attained far more quickly than was the case with reliance on newspapers. Newspapers, it is important to remember, reflect information as available on a very specific period of time. Once the newspaper "goes to press," the information in the paper cannot be modified to reflect changes in ongoing events, including with respect to global stock markets (e.g., the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, the Nikkei in Tokyo, and the Shanghai Composite in China). Newspapers simply cannot keep up with the rapid rate of change that routinely takes place in stock markets, although most newspapers now have their own Internet sites that do provide up-to-date information.

All of that said, newspapers are still useful for students learning how to track individual stocks. Those papers that still include stock market data can be used to consult the peaks and valleys common to many stocks, with the data charted on a graph so as to provide for an informative "picture" of how that stock is doing over a period of time. The student simply needs to pick the stocks in which he or she is interested, locate those stocks in the relevant market (e.g., New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq), note the current price at which the stocks are selling, and the time and date of that data. As suggested, a graph can easily be drawn-up to reflect those stocks' positions on a daily basis, which provides insights into the stability of the stocks.