The S&P 500, on the other hand, is overseen by an S&P board and is a market capitalization-weighted index – weightings are determined by taking the price of a stock times the number of shares outstanding. Consequently, larger companies have a greater influence over the index. Nevertheless, individual holdings are pretty evenly spread out, with Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) as the largest holding at 3.1%.
Technology is the index’s largest sector at 16.5%, followed by financial services 14.7%, healthcare 12.2 and industrials 11.0%.
For those interested in S&P 500 ETFs, investors can consider the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) or Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: VOO).
For more information on the S&P 500 or the Dow, visit our S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average categories.
Max Chen contributed to this article.
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own SPY.