The stock or equity market is the traditional way for average investors and traders to invest in corporate America. Stocks provide a way to take ownership positions in a company and hopefully get returns from profits or from price changes. Stocks are tracked by several different composite indexes. For example, the Dow Jones index reflects 30 largest companies in the U.S. while the Russell tracks companies with relatively small capitalization. And equities can be tracked by sector - such as technology or transportation, among others.