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Benchmark |

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BenchmarkA benchmark is a proxy for a market, economy, class of equity, or sector, generally setting a standard against which the performance of a stock, bond, mutual fund, commodity, or other security is measured.
Benchmarks are also used to gauge the health of a market, sector, or entire economy.
Examples
BenchmarkA real benchmark |ˈbɛntʃˌmɑrk| is an unmovable surveyor's mark cut concrete or stone, and used as a reference point in measuring altitudes. There is no such thing as a floating benchmark. [1]
From an investors view, cash is used as a benchmark to gauge the returns on there principal, and governments use cash as a benchmark to levy there taxes on.
Wall Street uses benchmarks that they make up themselves to justify their fees. [1] Generally, the earnings multiple for the market as a whole is a helpful benchmark. [2] Benchmarks are a smokescreen used by Wall Street to distract investors from gauging their investment returns against cash. Comparisons are fraught with peril, because a fund can look unjustifiably good or bad if it is compared with the wrong index. [3] Investors are concerned with absolute, not relative risk and return. Minimizing risk is about diversification. [4]
From "surveyor's point of reference," 1838, [2]
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