By Kirsten Wegner, CEO, Index Industry Association
Imagine waking up to a world without “the market.” No Dow. No S&P 500. No Nasdaq-100® ticker rolling across your screen. No benchmark to tell investors when the market is up or down – or how a retirement or college savings plan performed.
Without index data, investors, policymakers, and savers alike would be flying blind.
Data is the foundation. Index providers transform that data into trusted signals that define the market. Indexes are built from raw market data. Once constructed, they become benchmarks, tools investors use to measure performance. The data derived from these indexes, known as index data, supports everything from portfolio construction to economic policy.
Indexes are the unsung infrastructure of modern finance – transforming billions of daily data points into a single, trusted signal. They show how markets are performing, define the boundaries of economies, and give investors a common language for measuring success. As the world marks the United Nations’ World Statistics Day this October 20, it’s worth reflecting on the importance of reliable data in economic life. In line with this year’s theme, “quality statistics and data for everyone,” a recent study by the Index Industry Association explores how access to trusted index data strengthens transparency and accountability across global markets. The findings show that consistent, high-quality data help ensure markets serve investors and economies more effectively.
A Transparent Engine for the Global Economy
Every day, index data guides decisions worth trillions of dollars. When the news outlets describe “the markets are up,” they are referring to indexes. When investors evaluate a portfolio’s performance or manage risk, they rely on indexes. When they choose low cost, index-based mutual funds or ETFs, those products are built from index data.
Indexes not only measure markets, but they also make them understandable. They distill vast, complex information into insight, giving shape and clarity to a financial world that would otherwise be incomprehensible to the human eye.
From Railroads to AI
The idea isn’t new. In 1884, journalist Charles Dow created an average of eleven railroad stocks to track the industrial economy’s heartbeat. His invention – the ancestor of today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average – transformed scattered numbers into knowledge. Just as
Dow’s average brought order to industrial chaos, today’s indexes bring clarity to a data-saturated digital economy.
From railroads to artificial intelligence, indexes continue to measure progress, risk, and innovation. More than three million indexes now measure every corner of the global economy: equities, bonds, commodities, futures, emerging markets, and even the next wave of technology.
The Data that Builds Trust
Indexes are not investment products themselves, yet their data supports nearly every corner of modern finance: from portfolio research and risk management and to data tied to mutual funds and ETFs, and even economic policy decisions. Without index data, investors couldn’t benchmark performance or manage risk, and policymakers would lose vital signals about economic health.
Better Data, Better Decisions
So much of finance depends on data. When data is consistent, transparent, and trusted, markets work better for everyone. Index data, invisible yet essential, is what turns billions of data points into understanding. Especially in an age defined by uncertainty, index data fosters trust, transparency and clarity while helping investors and policymakers navigate a complex financial world.
As we celebrate World Statistics Day, let’s remember: every time we say “the market,” we’re referring to indexes, built from data, trusted by investors, and essential to understanding economic reality.
