Our Leading Markets

The UK 100, also known as the FTSE 100, is one of the most widely used metrics when evaluating the UK economy's performance. The index comprises the largest companies in the UK in terms of market capitalisation, with larger companies holding more influence on the index's price. In the UK, the largest companies are usually found in the mining, energy (particularly oil and gas) and financial services sectors.

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Wall Street, also known as the Dow Jones, is one of the most widely recognized stock market indices in the world. Historically, the index was created to track the movements of the largest industrial companies in America, however it is now comprised of 30 companies from all different sectors.

As an index with a price-weighted average, a higher-priced stock will have greater influence. The index includes worldwide household names such as Intel, Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs.

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The US SP 500 (S&P 500 underlying) is an index that tracks the largest 500 companies in the United States and is one of the most widely followed indices in the world. Regarded as the best gauge of large-cap equities, the SP 500 offers a picture of the US stock market and the broader economy, including household names such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase.

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The Germany 40 index consists of the biggest companies traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The size of the listed company is determined by book value and market capitalisation.

Currently, the DAX index is dominated by financial, automotive, healthcare and chemicals sectors such as Allianz, BMW, Bayer and Siemens. Its sheer size ensures that it is a very dominant index in Europe and can carry some influence over its neighbours.

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The Nikkei (Japan 225) is the leading and most-respected index of Japanese stocks and comprises Japan's top 225 blue-chip companies traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei is equivalent to the Dow Jones (Wall Street) index in the USA and serves as a barometer of the Japanese economy as a whole.

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Also known as cable, GBP/USD is a staple for many FX traders and is one of the oldest exchanges in FX trading history, and once was the most-traded forex pair in the world. It still ranks among the highest today. Historically, the pound and the US dollar have been the main currencies by which many other nations have valued their own money.

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As two of the world’s most used currencies, EUR/USD is the world’s most-traded currency pair. It consistently offers traders tight spreads and constant liquidity as it represents the value of the US dollar per one euro. The European Union represents the world’s largest economic region with a GDP of over $13 trillion.

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USD/JPY is a forex pair that puts the US dollar against the Japanese yen, telling you how many yen it takes to buy a single US dollar. It is one of the most-traded currency pairs globally and is sometimes called the ‘gopher’ by FX traders.

The biggest difference between USD/JPY and the other major pairs is the value of the yen, which is much lower than the other major currencies. Because of this, a pip on USD/JPY is valued as 1% of a single yen, instead of 0.01% as with other pairs.

The yen is seen as a ‘safe haven’ currency among traders, so may rise in turbulent economic times.

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The euro (EUR) against the British pound (GBP) is one of the most-traded currency pairs worldwide because it compares two significant economies against each other: the European Union and the United Kingdom. This pair has come into focus more and more in recent years as the Brexit vote and process heavily impacted both currencies involved.

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Barclays (LON:BARC) is a UK multinational bank, and the fifth largest bank in Europe by total assets. It operates in retail banking, wealth management, corporate banking and investing, split across its two divisions: Barclays UK and Barclays International. 

The bank has two stock listings: a primary one on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 stock index. You can trade Barclays shares as a CFD with StoneX Trading. 

The company was founded in 1690 in the City of London, although it took on its present form and the name Barclays in 1896. 

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Tesla Inc is a pioneering US-based automobile company founded in 2003. As of January 2021, the company has introduced four battery-run models to the global market, grown revenues to more than $25 billion, and seen its market capitalisation surge to more than $800 billion from around $1.7 billion on IPO in 2010.

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Deutsche Bank is a leading German multinational investment bank dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

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Citigroup is a global financial services institution and the third largest bank in the US.

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UK Crude Oil is StoneX Trading’s market based on the live price of Brent Crude, the world’s leading oil benchmark alongside WTI. It enables you to take your position on Brent Crude’s price movements, without needing an account with a futures broker. 

Brent Crude is oil that is drilled from North Sea fields. Like WTI, it is a light, sweet crude which means it is easily refinable and therefore sought after. Brent Crude makes up over half of the oil traded globally, and its futures are traded on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) in London. 

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US Crude Oil – also known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) – is a major oil benchmark that represents a light sweet oil drilled in the United States. Its price often moves in line with UK Crude Oil, also known as Brent Crude. 

WTI is an easily refined oil, making it attractive among investors and traders. Its price forms the basis of futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). 

US Crude's price is often quoted alongside that of UK Crude. The difference between the two is referred to as the WTI-Brent spread. 

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Coffee C is the benchmark for Arabica futures and options. It’s the world’s leading coffee commodity market and is used to price Arabica coffee across the world. 

Coffee is often regarded as the most important export commodity after crude oil. Although there are many different varieties of coffee, only two are of economic importance: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta. Today, more than 60% of the world’s coffee output is Arabica. 

The demand for coffee is relatively constant, so the market price is influenced primarily by supply-side factors, such as the weather conditions and political situations in producer countries. 

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The gold price is followed around the world as the precious metal continues to be highly valued by investors, consumers and companies. It was used for millennia as a currency, but even after the fiat-based system was introduced, gold remains a store of value and a ‘safe haven’ during periods of economic decline. 

As well as being a popular investment, gold is used in industries ranging from medicine to technology. 

Typically, the gold price is quoted in US Dollars, which means it has an inverse relationship with the currency. Gold is regularly traded as a currency pair in the format XAU/USD – Au being the symbol for gold on the periodic table. 

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Silver is a metal that functions both as a ‘safe haven’ and a popular commodity on futures markets. Its demand stems from its value as an enduring precious metal and practical applications for electronics, tableware and jewellery. 

Silver prices are affected by supply and demand. The metal is especially constrained by the status of silver mines primarily located in Mexico and Poland. 

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