Wall Street, the stock market, dow jones……? What are all these about?

Einstein: Wall Street, the stock market, dow jones……? What are all these about?
I really don’t understand what Wall Street is all about! I read that the “dow jones” is down, but what does that mean? Stock market down, closed so-and-so many points down???? What is the connection of Wall street to, say, businesses such as BestBuy? Why is what happens at Wall Street so relevant?
My question is not a joke, I really don’t understand all of this! (feel free to call me ignorant). Even if you can point me to a website where I can learn about it would be appreciated.

Answers and Views:

Answer by bearcat
There is no such thing as a dumb question if you truly dont understand. Heres the deal in an easy way to understand. Wall Street is home to the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) where stocks are traded. The Dow Jones is an kindex, and yardstick, a barometer of sorts….its a bunch of stocks that when figured together are supposed to represent how the market as a whole is doing…so say General Electric, Goodyear, and Startbucks were in our Index and they all went down….then the Dow would go down…Businesses like Best Buy are selling shares of their stock on the NYSE…basically, you are a mini owner of the company if you buy shares.