S and P 500

The S&P 500 is a stock index comprised of 500 mostly American Companies and maintained by Standard and Poor's. The index is comprised of large companies from a variety of industries; these include ExxonMobil, General Electric, AT&T and Microsoft.

On September 15, 2008, the S&P 500 fell 59 points, a 4.7% drop and the index's largest since the economic chain reaction caused by the 9-11 terrorist attacks.¹

Fast Facts:

1. Established in 1957
2. Standard and Poor's is a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
3. The index covers 90 specific industries
4. The S&P MidCap 400 Index launched in 1991
5. S&P/BARRA Growth Index and S&P/BARRA Value Index were introduced a year later in 1992
6. S&P base period: 1941-1943

Key Dates

• 1926: Standard de Poor developed with 26 industry groups and 233 companies
• 1957:The S&P 500 introduced to the market and consists of 425 Industrials, 60 Utilities and 15 Rails
• 1966: The McGraw-Hill Companies purchases Standard & Poor's
• 1986: S&P computer has a technological advancement, and now can disseminate values in 15-second intervals oppose to 1-minute intervals
• 1998: The composite index closed at over $1,000 for the first time
• 2001: Index falls 53.77 points on September 17
• 2008: Preceded by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the index drops 59 points on September 15¹

Notable Companies

• Chevron
• Procter & Gamble
• Johnson & Johnson
• IBM
• Apple
• Cisco Systems
• JP Morgan Chase
• Bank of America
• Coca-Cola

Related Pages on Mahalo

Dow Jones | New York Stock Exchange | NASDAQ

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