S&P500 Index SPX500

Considered a bellwether for the American economy, and a daily benchmark for the performance of US stocks, this index comprises the 500 leading, most influential publicly traded companies in the US, from over 100 sectors. To qualify for this index, a company must meet several criteria including: to be an American company, have a market cap of at least $6.1 billion, not private, and have an active market. This is a market cap index, so larger companies have more influence on this index than smaller ones. Many traders and investors use the US500 as a benchmark, to gauge their own performance.