How the Stock Market Works: A Beginner's Guide to Investment

Some people might see the current recession as the very worst time to invest in the stock market, but many of the world's most successful investors insist that a market downturn is the very moment when people should be investing.

How the Stock Market Works will tell investors what is being traded and how, who does what and to whom, and how to evaluate both the shares and proponents' claims about them. The authors answer questions such as: What are shares and gilts? What are futures and options? Where and how can you buy shares? How do you pick a share to buy?

With new material on complex derivatives, foreign shares, and Internet trading, this book explains the full inter-relationships between the stock market, banks, brokers, and regulators.