In large measure it is written from the standpoint of the small buyer and seller of stocks. But it is not hard to see how these small customers are able to interact to provide a quickly responding market. The principles of this market are similar to all others. For every buyer there has to be a seller. So broad is the ownership of stock shares that owners can easily follow the fortunes of the market on a daily or even hourly basis.
Investors get their information in a variety of ways.
If they are willing to wait until the markets close, they can simply look at the markets pages of large daily newspapers to find out what happened in the previous trading session. There are a variety of indexes that measure market activity broadly, and individual stocks are also listed, showing the number of shares traded, the closing price, and high and low prices reached during the trading session. Certain television programs devoted to business report immediate developments in market movements. Also, investors often subscribe to magazines and newsletters devoted to analyzing movements in individual stocks and the markets in general, and speculating about the future. Once a company has sold its original stock to the public and it is traded freely in the market, the price will be determined continuously during the trading day by what buyers will pay and what sellers will take.