What is S&P 500?
[[File:S and P 500 daily linear chart 1950 to 2016.png|thumb|A [[linear chart]] of the S&P 500 day by day closing values from January 3, 1950 to February 19, 2016]] [[File:S&P 500 daily logarithmic chart 1950 to 2016.png|thumb|A [[logarithmic chart]] of the S&P 500 index daily closing values from January 3, 1950 to February 19, 2016.]] The '''Standard and Poor's 500''',<ref name=sp500r>{{cite web | url=https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/sp-500/ | title=S&P 500® | publisher=[[S&P Global]]}}</ref> or sometimes known as the '''S&P 500''',<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sp-is-up-9-this-month-but-these-10-stocks-jumped-more-than-22-2015-10-30 | title=The S&P is up 9% this month, but these 10 stocks jumped more than 22% | first=Victor | last=Reklaitis | work=[[MarketWatch]] | date=October 30, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116072646/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sp-is-up-9-this-month-but-these-10-stocks-jumped-more-than-22-2015-10-30 | archive-date=November 16, 2018 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all}}</ref> is [[stock market index|something that measures the stock market]], looking at how well 500 of the largest companies listed on [[stock exchange]]s in the United States are doing. It is one of the most commonly used ways of looking at stocks for these companies. There is over $4.6 trillion invested in the companies that use how well companies are doing to know when to invest.<ref name=sp500r/> ==Included companies== The 10 largest companies in the index are responsible for 26.4% of the tied investments. The 10 largest companies in the S&P 500, in order of size, are [[Apple Inc.]], [[Microsoft]], [[Amazon (company)|Amazon.com]], [[Facebook]], [[Alphabet Inc.]] (class A & C), [[Tesla, Inc.]], [[Berkshire Hathaway]], [[JPMorgan Chase]], and [[Johnson & Johnson]].<ref name=sp500r/> For a list of companies in the S&P 500, see [[List of S&P 500 companies]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Lichtenfeld | first=M. | title=Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System fo