S&P 500 index hitting the Big Five-O; how time flies.(Frontlines)(Brief article)

Pensions & Investments, March, 2007 by Burr, Barry B.

Byline: Barry B. Burr Standard & Poor's will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the S&P 500 stock index on March 5, ringing the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange. S&P, which began in 1923 with 500 stocks segmented into four separate indexes - industrials, transportation, utilities and financials - consolidated them to create the S&P 500 on March 5, 1957, said David R.

Guarino, communications manager. Some other facts from S&P about the S&P 500: * The closing price of the index March 5, 1957, was 44.42. Its recent close was 1406.82 on Feb. 28. * The S&P 500, which has played a crucial role as a U.S. broad market benchmark for institutional investors, has produced an estimated total return in those 50 years of 10.83% through Feb. 26, of which...

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