The current market value of a single share of a publicly traded company, determined by supply and demand forces in financial markets. It reflects investors' collective assessment of the company's current worth and future prospects.
Stock trading originated in 17th-century Amsterdam and London, with 'stock' deriving from Old English 'stocc' meaning tree trunk or post, originally referring to the wooden tallies used to record investments. 'Price' comes from Old French 'pris' meaning value or worth, together describing the monetary value assigned to ownership stakes.
Stock prices can be surprisingly irrational - studies show they're influenced by everything from weather patterns to sports team performance, leading to the famous observation that markets can remain irrational longer than investors can remain solvent. The rise of algorithmic trading means that stock prices now change thousands of times per second, making the market far more volatile than in previous generations.
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