Wall Street Journal: The Leader in Financial News
Written: Sep 03 '02
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Pros: Extensive financial and economic data; Award- winning journalists
Cons: Subscription price is high
The Bottom Line: Wall Street Journal is the best financial newspaper available today.
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Wall Street Journal |
When I’m asked to think of a financial news publication, the first one that pops into my head is the Wall Street Journal. This paper is a financial extravaganza with gobs of data on stocks, financial markets, economics, new products, and other consumer financial information. The Wall Street Journal was first published in 1889 and today the paper is owned by Dow Jones, Inc. It’s the most widely read publication of its kind in the world, with a paid circulation of approximately 1.8 million subscribers.
What Can I Find in This Paper?:
Wall Street Journal is divided into three main sections with occasional “special” sections and a weekend edition. The main parts of WSJ are:
Main Section- There is no title to this part. It’s the main, “A” section of the paper and it includes any important headlining stories for the previous investing day, news articles, politics, international news, editorials, and letters to the editor.
Marketplace- In this area, you will find featured stories on technology, corporations, media, etc. There is also an index to any corporation that is specifically mentioned somewhere in the particular issue that you are reading. Futures market prices and a commodities report wrap up the Marketplace section.
Money and Investing- This is the part that most investors turn to first. The front page of this section includes a few articles about investment topics and at the bottom of this page, you will find graphic illustrations showing the previous days’ closing prices and year-to-date trends for the Dow Jones Industrial averages, global stocks, interest rates, U.S. dollar exchange rates, and commodities index. The pages that follow include a market summary of the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P, Russell 2000, most active stocks, greatest gainers and losers, etc. And, of course, there is a market recap of all the New York Stock Exchange companies, NASDAQ companies, American Exchange companies, T- Bonds and Notes, preferred stock, Mutual fund prices, and closed- end fund prices. If any company has issued its earnings report for the most recent quarter, WSJ summarizes them and shows a comparison to the previous year’s earnings. Stock options wrap up the Money and Investing section, on the last page.
Weekend Journal- This section can be found in the Friday edition of the Wall Street Journal. After bogging the reader down with economics and finance for a full week, WSJ presents a completely different agenda in the Weekend Journal. You won’t find much financial talk here at all. Instead, Weekend Journal focuses on topics like fashion, new models of automobiles, travel, music, books, property for sale (not just any property- very expensive real estate), and other topics that are personal in nature.
Cost to Subscribe:
Wall Street Journal does contain a substantial amount of financial information, and you pay the price for this if you subscribe or purchase from the newsstand. The cover price is $1.00 per issue. Subscription rates will save you money when compared to the newsstand rate, but they are still out of reach for many individuals. A 13- week subscription currently sells for $49. If you want 26 weeks, it will cost you $89. And if you would like to have a full year of the Wall Street Journal delivered to your doorstep, it will set you back $175. Students can sometimes get substantial discounts on this publication, and it’s common to find special offers on- line and in magazines and other places that will help to reduce the price a little bit more.
Final Thoughts:
The Wall Street Journal is the paper that is associated more with money and investing than any other printed communication in the United States. I have been reading WSJ, on and off, for the past 15 years. I was a subscriber at one time, but I decided that I didn’t really need this much financial information every single day, at least not for the price of $175 per year.
My favorite parts of the WSJ are the Money and Investing section and the main section, for its quick front- page summary of important business and finance news and for its timely articles written by the WSJ staff, which includes many Pulitzer Prize winning journalists like Dorothy Rabinowitz and Ian Johnson. The articles are written on business- related subjects but they are often personalized, too. Rather than just grind out financial data, these stories are often very thoughtful, with a human dimension that goes beyond the usual dollars and cents that you expect in WSJ.
Many people will enjoy the Weekend Journal because of the fact that it leaves the financial topics behind in favor of stories that include more personal information. This is a nice change of pace from the daily grind. But most people who buy the Wall Street Journal will continue to do so for the finance and economic data. While I like the Weekend Journal as much as anyone else, it isn’t what motivates me to buy this publication. I buy it for the financial data.
The Money and Investment section is probably the most extensive one available in print. There are other financial papers that summarize the Dow Jones averages and list out all of the NYSE, NASDAQ, and American Exchange stock prices. But how many publications go so far as to include preferred stock prices, stock options, and even closed- end mutual fund prices? I can’t think of any other publication, off the top of my head, that includes all of this information in each issue.
Wall Street Journal is a class act and one of my favorite newspapers. I have read this publication more than any other U.S paper and I would probably subscribe to it, if I could justify the cost. It is a very good paper, but I don’t feel I necessarily need to be bombarded with so much financial and economic data seven days per week. This paper is published every day of the week, all year long, with the exception of a few major holidays. The days that the Wall Street Journal is not published are New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. Other than those days, you can find this paper in print at your local bookstore and in certain other locations. It’s not always easy to find, however. If you want to buy one issue at a time, you have to look around.
Wall Street Journal is an excellent publication, and it’s the market leader in its field. Pages and pages of financial and economic information are at your fingertips when you read an issue of WSJ. What could be more exciting than reading about economics and finance? Grab a copy of Wall Street Journal today, and get educated in the world of investing.
Recommended:
Yes
Describe the newspaper's political views: It is conservative
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