Re: Can I track the performance of an index?

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In Reply to: Can I track the performance of an index? posted by Craig on August 08, 2005 at 15:53:44:

: I have added the SPX index to my portfolio for tracking purposes. However, since I have not added a quantity, nor price, FM doesn't track the performance.

: I'd like to be able to track the changes in various indexes and compare them to my portfolio. Can this be done without skewing the returns of a portfolio?

: Thanks,

: Craig

Hi Craig,

Yes, you can track an index, and compare it against your portfolio/investments. Generally, you'll want to just create an investment that owns 0 shares. Track the closing price by just retrieving the prices, as you do for all your other investments. It is fine to own 0 shares of an investment. You can either put this index in the same portfolio as your investments, or you might want to create another sub-portfolio that has the index investments you want for comparison purposes.

FYI, to track the S&P you'll want to record the symbol as ^GSPC, which is the symbol used on Yahoo for the S&P. You can retrieve both current and historical prices for this and other indices. For a list of the symbols of indices, see:

http://finance.yahoo.com/indices

Thanks,
Mark
--
Mark Beiley
Fund Manager, portfolio management software for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/00/XP/2003

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