Index opening price?

[Harry]

Anybody know why sites such as Yahoo and Google Finance show S&P opening prices higher than what actually occurred? For example, on Friday the index opened (gapped) down on the jobs report, yet Yahoo shows Friday's open at 1391.51: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EGSPC+Historical+Prices

Was that the true open? Obviously no one could have bought an ETF near that open price for an obvious short. Thanks.

[Billy]

Anybody know why sites such as Yahoo and Google Finance show S&P opening prices higher than what actually occurred? For example, on Friday the index opened (gapped) down on the jobs report, yet Yahoo shows Friday's open at 1391.51: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EGSPC+Historical+Prices

Was that the true open? Obviously no one could have bought an ETF near that open price for an obvious short. Thanks.

At the “official” index opening price, many stocks haven’t traded yet and may have much lower bid & ask prices than their closing price. ETF’s market makers do bid & ask at the open for their instruments taking into account all bid & ask quotes of all components, even if they haven’t opened yet. Hence the ETFs do provide a much better and timely quote.
Billy

[Harry]

Thank you Billy! I keep learning and learning ...