Reading the stock tables in the newspaper can be very confusing when you’re just learning about the stock market. Learning how to read stocks won’t take much time, though, and it’s very important.

To begin, you’ll notice that there are about twelve columns across the table, and each stock has its own line. To find out how the stock has been performing over the past year, look at the first two columns– these will be labeled something to the effect of “52W High” and “52W Low.” “52W High” shows the highest point the stock has reached in the past 52 weeks, and “52W Low” shows the lowest.

In the follow column you’ll see the actual name of the stock. This will be followed by another column that shows the stock’s ticker symbol. Each stock has a unique combination of letters. Perhaps you’ll even recognize a few (or more than a few) of these tickers. They periodically run across the bottom of the screen of cable news networks.

By the way, watching some of the financial shows could be a good idea. It will further your knowledge even more on how to read stocks and understand the way the market works.

There’s another column next to the ticker column, and it’s labeled “Div.” From this column, you see how much in annual dividends the stock pays out for every share. Many rows will have this column blank, which means they don’t currently pay out dividends. The same goes for the next column - “Yield %” - the percentage return on the dividend.

The earnings ratio is indicated by P/E. You get this number by dividing the current stock price by the earnings per share for the last four quarters.

”High” and “Low” are the next two columns. In the day’s trading, you’ll be able to see the highest and lowest points that the stock has reached. “Close” is the point at which the stock closed that day, and “Net Change” shows the change from the day before.

With a basic understanding of how to read stocks, you can now move on and start learning more about the market itself.

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- Carlie Evie