The stock market : what the stock market has to offer -- Reading the financial press : determining share value, determining your investment return -- The initial public offering : getting the stocks to the marketplace -- Inside the brokerage firm : who does what? -- The secondary market : executing orders on the exchange floor -- The specialist : riding the bulls and bears -- The Secondary market : over-the-counter trading -- The Nasdaq : ongoing changes -- Investment companies : closed-end and open-end funds- the 'package plan' approach -- Stock options : multipurpose instruments -- The back offices : following the long paper trail -- Stock market theories : can prices really be predicted? -- Analyzing stocks : the corporation's "report card" -- Online trading in the stock market : how technology has changed the financial landscape -- Globalization of the stock market : expanding opportunities for investors -- Taxation : how dividends and capital gains are taxed -- In the tank or, even worse, crash, but then a reversal : how the stock market works under pressure.