Equities

An equity share is the residual claim on a company: it entitles the holder to dividends when declared, voting rights, and a slice of the assets left after creditors are paid. Equities matter because their uncertain, theoretically perpetual cashflows make them the baseline risky asset for portfolios and for every risk-premium story in finance. Indices aggregate baskets of shares into tradable benchmarks such as the S&P 500, defining the market return everyone quotes and anchoring the index funds that track it. Primary issuance through IPOs and follow-ons feeds new capital to firms; secondary trading on exchanges sets the prices the rest of finance references.