"The S&P 500 Index, or Standard & Poor's 500 Index, is a market-capitalization-weighted index of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the U.S. It is not an exact list of the top 500 U.S. companies by market cap because there are other criteria to be included in the index. The index is regarded as one of the best gauges of large-cap U.S. equities. Another common U.S. stock market benchmark is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The S&P 500 Index features 500 leading U.S. publicly traded companies, with primary emphasis on market capitalization.
The S&P is a float-weighted index, meaning the market capitalizations of the companies in the index are adjusted by the number of shares available for public trading.1
Because it is widely considered the best gauge of large-cap U.S. equities, many funds are designed to track the performance of the S&P 500" Investopedisa
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The S&P 500 Index features 500 leading U.S. publicly traded companies, with primary emphasis on market capitalization.
The S&P is a float-weighted index, meaning the market capitalizations of the companies in the index are adjusted by the number of shares available for public trading.1
Because it is widely considered the best gauge of large-cap U.S. equities, many funds are designed to track the performance of the S&P 500" Investopedisa
