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Reading the stock tables in the newspaper can be very confusing when you're just learning about the stock market. It's important to learn how to read stocks, though, and it won't take a lot of time.

To begin, you'll notice that there are about twelve columns across the table, and each stock has its own line. The first two columns (usually labeled something like "52W High" and "52W Low") are dealing with the stock's performance over the past year. You'll see the highest point the stock has achieved in the last 52 weeks in the "52W High" column. Its lowest value will be in the "52W Low" column.

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. In fact, you might be able to recognize some of them. Maybe you've seen the tickers running across the bottom of the screen when you watch the news.

Speaking of which, watching the financial shows on these networks will give you further help on how to read stocks and other aspects of the stock market.

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. You'll know the stock doesn't pay out dividends if this particular column is blank. The same rule also applies to the very next column, "Yield %", the percentage return on the dividend.

P/E is the price to earnings ratio. 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. These are the highest and lowest points that the stock reached in the day's trading. "Close" is the point at which the stock closed that day, and "Net Change" shows the change from the day before.

Once you're armed with a good working knowledge of how to read stocks, you can begin to delve into other aspects of the market.

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