Glossary
What is S&P 500?
The S&P 500 is a scoreboard that tracks 500 of the biggest US companies.
The simple explanation
It is a stock market index. When people say the market is up, they often mean the S&P 500 is up. Bigger companies count for more in the index than smaller ones.
An example
If the S&P 500 rises 1 percent in a day, the largest US companies as a group rose about 1 percent.
Why it matters
It is the most common benchmark for how the US stock market is doing.
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Educational information, not financial advice.