Is the FTSE data here based on commodities? I was surprised it went so far back, and it seems to derive from the London Stock Exchange, but WP says
At that coffee house, a broker named John Castaing started listing the prices of a few commodities, such as salt, coal, and paper, and exchange rates in 1698. Originally, this was not a daily list and was only published a few days of the week.[6]
If he was only listing commodities in 1698, then what is being indexed years before in 1692 for the crash?
There were I believe only three major equities being traded back then—Bank of England, and a couple of others (can’t recall—East India Company maybe), plus the South Sea Company soon after. The stock market continued to consist of a smallish number of large monopoly companies until the 19th century, when many more companies were listed.
UK from Global Financial Data (paid), US from Yahoo Finance (free).
Global Financial Data now provide *daily* FTSE 100 data from 1692 - remarkable. (The 1696 & 1720 lines above were from their earlier monthly data.)
Is the FTSE data here based on commodities? I was surprised it went so far back, and it seems to derive from the London Stock Exchange, but WP says
If he was only listing commodities in 1698, then what is being indexed years before in 1692 for the crash?
There were I believe only three major equities being traded back then—Bank of England, and a couple of others (can’t recall—East India Company maybe), plus the South Sea Company soon after. The stock market continued to consist of a smallish number of large monopoly companies until the 19th century, when many more companies were listed.