Foundations
A share (or stock) is a slice of ownership in a company. Own a share of a business and you own a claim on its future profits: paid out as dividends, reinvested to grow, or returned through buybacks. The share price is simply what the market will pay today for that claim on tomorrow.
Why prices move
A share price moves when the market changes its mind about two things: how much profit the company will make in the future, and how much those future profits are worth today. The first changes with news about the business: earnings, new products, competition, the economy. The second changes with interest rates: when safe returns rise, future profits are worth less today, and valuations compress even for companies whose prospects have not changed. Most confusing market days make sense once you ask which of the two moved.
Prices move on surprise, not news
A company can report record profits and its shares can fall. Why? Because the market had already priced in even better. Every share price embeds expectations, so what moves it is the gap between what happens and what was expected. This is the meaning of “priced in”, the phrase behind half of all market commentary, and it is why reading expectations matters as much as reading results.
The market is a voting machine, then a weighing machine
Day to day, prices reflect sentiment, positioning and stories; over years, they track the actual profits businesses deliver. Both matter to a reader of market news: the short run explains why prices swing far more than business reality changes, and the long run explains why fundamentals win eventually. Our analysis lives in the gap between the two: what the price says the market believes, and whether the evidence supports it.
Where you’ll meet this in our coverage
The Best Quarter Since 2020: Inside the H1 2026 Market Rally
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