<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Standard & Poor's 500, often abbreviated as the S&P 500, or just the S&P, is an American stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ . The S&P 500 index components and their weightings are determined by S&P Dow Jones Indices . It differs from other U.S. stock market indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Nasdaq Composite index, because of its diverse constituency and weighting methodology . It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices, and many consider it one of the best representations of the U.S. stock market, and a bellwether for the U.S. economy . The National Bureau of Economic Research has classified common stocks as a leading indicator of business cycles . </P> <P> The S&P 500 was developed and continues to be maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, a joint venture majority - owned by S&P Global . S&P Dow Jones Indices publishes many stock market indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P MidCap 400, the S&P SmallCap 600, and the S&P Composite 1500 . David M. Blitzer has overall responsibility for index security selection . The S&P 500 is a capitalization - weighted index, and is associated with many ticker symbols, such as: ^ GSPC, INX, and $SPX, depending on market or website . </P> <P> The "Composite Index", as the S&P 500 was first called when it introduced its first stock index in 1923, began tracking a small number of stocks . Three years later in 1926, the Composite Index expanded to 90 stocks and then in 1957 it expanded to its current 500 . Standard & Poor's, a company that doles out financial information and analysis, was founded in 1860 by Henry Varnum Poor . In 1941, Poor's Publishing (Henry Varnum Poor's original company) merged with Standard Statistics (founded in 1906 as the Standard Statistics Bureau) and therein assumed the name Standard and Poor's Corporation . Its primary daily stock market index was the "S&P 90", a value - weighted index based on 90 stocks . Standard & Poor's also published a weekly index of the stocks of 425 industrial companies . The S&P 500 index in its present form began on March 4, 1957 . Technology has allowed the index to be calculated and disseminated in real time . The S&P 500 is widely used as a measure of the general level of stock prices, as it includes both growth stocks and value stocks . </P>

What is the ticker for the s p 500
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