S&P 500 Index

The S&P 500, or Standard & Poor’s 500, is a widely followed stock market index that tracks the performance of approximately 500 of the largest, publicly traded companies in the United States. It is considered a key benchmark for U.S. equities and is designed to represent a broad cross-section of the American economy by including companies across all major sectors, weighted by market capitalization (the total value of a company’s outstanding shares). The index covers about 80% of the U.S. stock market’s value, and its movements are often used as shorthand for "how the market is doing" in general. Managed by the S&P Dow Jones Indices division of S&P Global, the S&P 500 is not directly investable, but many mutual funds and ETFs are designed to track its performance for investors.