Knowledge Base
S&P 500 investing strategies, index funds, ETFs, market performance data, and the trading approaches that shape allocation decisions.
45 articles in this category — page 1 of 4
The S&P 500's average monthly return from 1928 through 2023 is approximately +0.74% on a price-return basis, or roughly +0.90% including dividends, according to Federal Reserve FRED database historical data. The standard deviation of those monthly returns sits near 5.5%, which means a single month s
The Nikkei 225 vs S&P 500 comparison comes down to more than geography. One is a price-weighted index of 225 Japanese blue-chips, the other a float-adjusted market-cap index of 500 US companies. Their construction methods, return histories, and risk profiles diverge sharply enough that treating them
The S&P 500 minus Magnificent 7 returned low single digits in 2023. The full index returned over 26%. That gap is not a rounding error or a statistical quirk. It is the single most important thing to understand about U.S. equity markets right now, and the standard advice you will find in most financ
The S&P 500 has delivered roughly 10% annualized nominal returns since the modern 500-stock index launched in March 1957, and closer to 7% in real terms after inflation. Those numbers are real. They are also, at current valuations, unlikely to repeat over the next decade. If you are building a withd
S&P Global subsidiaries span five core divisions: Ratings, Market Intelligence, Commodity Insights, Mobility, and Indices. Together they generated over $12 billion in combined annual revenue following the 2022 IHS Markit merger. If you hold bonds, track equity benchmarks, or allocate to commodities,
The S&P 500 seasonality chart maps average monthly and quarterly returns across decades of data, revealing persistent calendar-based patterns in equity performance. September averages a loss. November through April consistently outperforms May through October. These are not folklore. They are statis
The short list: long-duration U.S. Treasuries, gold, managed futures, and certain volatility strategies. Each has genuine historical evidence behind it. Each also has a regime where that correlation flips. If you're allocating $5M+ based on long-run averages without understanding when the relationsh
Every rolling 20-year period in S&P 500 history has produced a positive nominal total return when dividends are reinvested. That single data point, drawn from Robert Shiller's Yale dataset spanning back to 1871, is the foundation of the long-term equity case. But for an investor managing a $5M+ port
The S&P 500 chart tells a straightforward story if you read it correctly: the index moved from roughly 1,800 in early 2014 to record highs above 5,000 in 2024, according to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data. That is approximately 175% in price appreciation before dividends. The headline number
S&P 500 inclusion triggers a predictable sequence of institutional buying, price pressure, and investor base shifts that every large-portfolio holder should understand. The mechanics matter whether you hold index funds in a taxable account, run a concentrated equity book, or are evaluating a pre-inc
The short answer: probably not, but the calculus is more expensive than most articles acknowledge. For a $5M+ investor with a low-cost-basis S&P 500 position, selling during a downturn can trigger a combined federal and state capital gains rate exceeding 30%, meaning the market needs to fall substan
Moody's and S&P are the two dominant voices in global credit assessment, collectively influencing trillions in bond pricing, borrowing costs, and portfolio mandates. If you hold individual bonds, municipal debt, or any fixed income allocation above $1M, understanding how these agencies work, where t