S&P 500, the world’s most followed stock index

The S&P 500 is currently the most widely followed stock index in the world. It serves as a model portfolio of stocks of 500 of the largest and most traded companies in the United States, diversified across all 10 major sectors of the US economy. It is usually considered the benchmark against which other investments are compared; “beating the market” usually means having better returns than the S&P 500. If you wanted to match the S&P 500’s returns, it would be very difficult to buy into all 500 companies; even a share of each would cost almost a hundred thousand dollars. In contrast, the SPY ETF can be used instead; this ETF aims to match the S&P 500 index and provide investors with comparable returns.

History

The S&P 500 index is produced by Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency that has been active since 1860. In the early days of Wall Street, they released their first stock index, the S&P 90, which was designed to compete with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, another index of 30 of the country’s largest companies. Over time, they also began publishing weekly reports of over 400 stocks. In 1957, their ‘big list’ became so popular that they changed their original, smaller index to include 500 stocks, becoming the index we now all know and love.

About the Vikingen

With Vikingen’s signals, you have a good chance of finding the winners and selling in time. There are many securities. With Vikingen’s autopilots or tables, you can sort out the most interesting ETFs, stocks, options, warrants, funds, and so on. Vikingen is one of Sweden’s oldest equity research programs.

Click here to see what Vikingen offers: Detailed comparison – Stock market program for those who want to get even richer (vikingen.se)