downloading index info

[suebrooks39887]

Is there an easy way to create investments for indexes (S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq etc)? If so, is there a way to download historical prices? thx

[Mark]

Hi suebrooks39887,

Yes, just create an investment for each index you want to track. You might want to put them in their own sub-portfolio, separate from your accounts.

You would create the investment using a symbol as shown on whatever quote server you want to use. For example, if you're using Yahoo, go here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/indices

and find the symbol for your index. For example, the S&P 500 symbol is: ^GSPC You can see this in parenthesis on the quote summary page for each index. Yahoo offers both current and historical prices for indices, except for the Dow Jones. For the Dow you can use Bloomberg with the symbol: INDU:IND

For more on retrieving prices, please see this tutorial:

https://youtu.be/9rTWGWjnzUI

[john3588]

You say I don't need to own any of the index but it will not allow me to create an investment for ^gspc without an amount or price.

[Mark]

Hi john3588,

You can record 0 for the shares, and enter any opening price, as you will overwrite it once you retrieve historical prices for this index.

[john3588]

And then can I overlay it on an existing portfolio - cost - value graph? Or will I have to do a new graph with my portfolio value and the overlay?

[john3588]

Finally got it, thanks