S&P 500

The S&P 500 (Standard and Poor's 500) is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States that are considered to have large market capitalizations. The S&P 500 is a subset of the S&P 1500. It is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices and its components are selected by a committee. For a list of the criteria for addition to the index, see S&P 1500 § Selection criteria.

The index is a public-float-weighted/capitalization-weighted index. The index includes approximately 83% of the total market capitalization of U.S. public companies, with an aggregate market capitalization of more than $61.1 trillion as of December 31, 2025. The median market capitalization of the components of the index is $41.8 billion and components range in market capitalization from $5.6 billion to $4.8 trillion.

Products linked to the S&P 500 include index funds (exchange-traded funds/ETFs and mutual funds) as well as derivatives (options and futures contracts), which are available for trading in many countries with the goal of replicating the performance of the index. Also available are modified index funds; they replicate the performance of the index with modifications such as the use of covered call strategies, equal weighting, performance buffers, leverage, inclusion of only growth or value stocks, or exclusion of certain sectors, all with the goal of changing the risk/return and yield. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, with approximately $800 billion in assets, has the highest average daily volume of all S&P 500 ETFs. In total, there was approximately $13 trillion in assets tracking the index as of December 31, 2024.

The component companies that have increased their dividends over 25 consecutive years are known as the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. Companies in the S&P 500 derive a collective 72% of revenues from the United States and 28% from other countries. The index is one of the factors in the computation of the Conference Board Leading Economic Index, which is used to forecast the direction of the economy. The index is associated with many ticker symbols, including ^GSPC,. INX, and SPX, depending on market or website.