The S&P 500 is a value weighted index of the prices of 500 large cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 trade on either of the two largest American stock markets, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The components of the S&P 500 are selected by committee.
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After the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 is the most widely followed index of large-cap American stocks. It is considered a bellwether for the American economy, and is included in the Index of Leading Indicators.
Some mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and other managed funds, such as pension funds, are designed so as to mimic the performance of the S&P 500 index.
The index is the best known of the many indices owned and maintained by Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw-Hill. S&P 500 refers not only to the index, but also to the 500 companies whose common stock is included in the index. „S&P 500“ is often abbreviated as SPX or INX, and may be prefixed with a caret (^) or with a dollar sign ($). The S&P 500 index forms part of the broader S&P 1500 and S&P Global 1200 stock market indices.
| Symbol | Company | Sector | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| WPO | Washington Post | Consumer Discretionary | 393.00 |
| GOOG | Google Inc. | Information Technology | 310.02 |
| CME | CME Group Inc. | Financials | 209.03 |
| ISRG | Intuitive Surgical Inc. | Health Care | 148.41 |
| MA | Mastercard Inc. | Information Technology | 143.68 |
| AZO | AutoZone Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | 105.76 |
| AAPL | Apple Inc. | Information Technology | 90.24 |
| BCR | Bard (C.R.) Inc. | Health Care | 82.91 |
| EOG | EOG Resources | Energy | 80.63 |
| IBM | International Bus. Machines | Information Technology | 80.33 |
Price last updated: November 14, 2008