A barometer is a selective compilation of economic and market data designed to represent larger trends. Common barometers include consumer spending, housing starts, interest rates, and prominent stock market indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index.
An index fund is a type of mutual fund designed to replicate the performance of a specific market index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). These funds aim to match the returns of the chosen index by holding identical proportions of the underlying assets.
SPDRs, also known as Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts or 'spiders,' are securities traded on major exchanges representing ownership in a long-term unit investment trust that holds a portfolio of common stocks. These portfolios are meticulously designed to track the performance of the S&P 500 Index.
The Standard & Poor's Index, widely known as the S&P 500, is a broad-based measurement of changes in stock-market conditions based on the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks.
The S&P 500 is a stock market index that tracks the stocks of 500 large-cap U.S. companies. It represents the stock market's performance by reporting the risks and returns of the biggest companies.
