S&P 500
lastmod 2025-08-25created 2025-07-213 edits
The S&P 500, or Standard and Poor's 500, is a stock market index that tracks the stock performance of the 500 largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most widely used stock indices today, covering about $43 trillion as of January 2024, roughly 80% of the market capitalization of US public companies.
The S&P 500 is a market-capitalization-weighted index. As of June 28, 2024, the top 9 companies in the S&P 500 account for 35.8% of the entire index; these companies are Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Alphabet (including Class A and C shares), Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly and Company, and Broadcom.
The S&P 500 is one of the components of the Conference Board Leading Economic Index (CB LEI) used for economic forecasting, and depending on the market or website it is written with various ticker symbols such as ^GSPC, INX, and $SPX. The S&P500 index is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, a joint venture of S&P Global, and a committee manages its constituents.
SPY vs VOO vs IVV vs SPLG
Overseas products
ACE vs KODEX vs SOL vs TIGER
Products marked (H) are currency-hedged products, unaffected by exchange rate fluctuations, which makes a meaningful difference when investing. The opposite is currency-unhedged (currency-exposed) products. Generally, the exchange rate rises when stock prices fall, so risk is hedged automatically, and currency-unhedged products are generally recommended.
Products marked (TR) are dividend-reinvesting (Total Return) products, which do not pay out dividends but reinvest them automatically, saving on dividend income tax. Because they are simple and efficient, TR products are generally recommended. For reference, TR does not exist as a type in the US because it is illegal there. Korea is also set to ban TR-style management of overseas-equity ETFs starting July 2025.