The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index is an index of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the United States. In 2021, the index value closed at 4,766.18 points, which was the second highest value on record despite the economic effects of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2023, the index values closed at 4,769.83, the highest value ever recorded. What is the S&P 500? The S&P 500 was established in 1860 and expanded to its present form of 500 stocks in 1957. It tracks the price of stocks on the major stock exchanges in the United States, distilling their performance down to a single number that investors can use as a snapshot of the economy’s performance at a given moment. This snapshot can be explored further. For example, the index can be examined by industry sector, which gives a more detailed illustration of the economy. Other measures Being a stock market index, the S&P 500 only measures equities performance. In addition to other stock market indices, analysts will look to other indicators such as GDP growth, unemployment rates, and projected inflation. Similarly, since these indicators say something about the economic future, stock market investors will use these indicators to speculate on the stocks in the S&P 500.

As of June 17, 2024, the most shorted stock was for, the American holographic technology services provider, MicroCloud Hologram Inc., with 66.64 percent of their total float having been shorted. This is a change from mid-January 2021, when video game retailed GameStop had an incredible 121.07 percent of their available shares in a short position. In effect this means that investors had 'borrowed' more shares (with a future promise to return them) than the total number of shares available for public trading. Owing to this behavior of professional investors, retail investors enacted a campaign to drive up the stock price of Gamestop, leading to losses of billions when investors had to repurchase the stock they had borrowed. At this time, a similar – but less effective – social media campaign was also carried out for the stock price of cinema operator AMC, and the price of silver. What is short selling? Short selling is essentially where an investor bets on a share price falling by: borrowing a number of shares selling these shares while the price is still high; purchasing the same number again once the price falls; then returning the borrowed shares at a profit. Of course, a profit will only be made if the share price does fall; should the share price rise the investor will then need to purchase the shares back at a higher price, and thus incur a loss. Short selling can lead to some very large profits in a short amount of time, with Tesla stock generating over one billion dollars in short sell profits during the first week of March 2020 alone, owing to the financial crash caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, owing to the short-term, opportunistic nature of short selling, these returns look less impressive when considered as net profits from short sell positions over the full year. The risks of short selling Short selling carries greater risks than traditional investments, and for this reason financial advisors often recommend against this strategy for ‘retail’ (i.e. non-professional) investors. The reason for this is that losses from short selling are potentially uncapped, whereas losses from traditional investments are limited to the initial cost. For example, if someone purchases 100 dollars of shares, the maximum they can lose is the 100 dollars the spent on those shares. However, say someone borrows 100 dollars of shares instead, betting on the price falling. If these shares are then sold for 100 dollars but the price subsequently rises, the losses could greatly exceed the initial investment should the price rise to, say, 500 dollars. The risks of short selling can be seen by looking again at Tesla, with the company causing the greatest losses over 2020 from short selling at over 40 billion U.S. dollars.

As of April 16, 2025, the yield for a ten-year U.S. government bond was 4.34 percent, while the yield for a two-year bond was 3.86 percent. This represents an inverted yield curve, whereby bonds of longer maturities provide a lower yield, reflecting investors' expectations for a decline in long-term interest rates. Hence, making long-term debt holders open to more risk under the uncertainty around the condition of financial markets in the future. That markets are uncertain can be seen by considering both the short-term fluctuations, and the long-term downward trend, of the yields of U.S. government bonds from 2006 to 2021, before the treasury yield curve increased again significantly in the following years. What are government bonds? Government bonds, otherwise called ‘sovereign’ or ‘treasury’ bonds, are financial instruments used by governments to raise money for government spending. Investors give the government a certain amount of money (the ‘face value’), to be repaid at a specified time in the future (the ‘maturity date’). In addition, the government makes regular periodic interest payments (called ‘coupon payments’). Once initially issued, government bonds are tradable on financial markets, meaning their value can fluctuate over time (even though the underlying face value and coupon payments remain the same). Investors are attracted to government bonds as, provided the country in question has a stable economy and political system, they are a very safe investment. Accordingly, in periods of economic turmoil, investors may be willing to accept a negative overall return in order to have a safe haven for their money. For example, once the market value is compared to the total received from remaining interest payments and the face value, investors have been willing to accept a negative return on two-year German government bonds between 2014 and 2021. Conversely, if the underlying economy and political structures are weak, investors demand a higher return to compensate for the higher risk they take on. Consequently, the return on bonds in emerging markets like Brazil are consistently higher than that of the United States (and other developed economies). Inverted yield curves When investors are worried about the financial future, it can lead to what is called an ‘inverted yield curve’. An inverted yield curve is where investors pay more for short term bonds than long term, indicating they do not have confidence in long-term financial conditions. Historically, the yield curve has historically inverted before each of the last five U.S. recessions. The last U.S. yield curve inversion occurred at several brief points in 2019 – a trend which continued until the Federal Reserve cut interest rates several times over that year. However, the ultimate trigger for the next recession was the unpredicted, exogenous shock of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, showing how such informal indicators may be grounded just as much in coincidence as causation.

The number of domestic companies listed on the Nasdaq and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has seen some fluctuations since 2018. As of the end of 2023, the NYSE had a total of ***** listed domestic and international companies, while the figure for the Nasdaq was much higher, standing at *****. Despite this, the NYSE has a higher market capitalization than the Nasdaq. What are the top listed companies? The NYSE has been a home for stable and long-lasting firms, also known as “blue-chip” companies. For example, Berkshire Hathaway, established in 1839, is the largest company traded on the NYSE. On the other hand, the Nasdaq has been known for listing major tech companies. For instance, Apple is the largest company listed on the Nasdaq. As of 2024, both companies were among the biggest companies in the world in terms of market capitalization. Which stock exchange has the most companies worldwide? Although the NYSE and the Nasdaq are the world’s largest two stock market operators by market capitalization, the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) is the biggest stock exchange in the world based on the number of companies. The JPX was created in 2013 through the merger of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange and is also one of the largest stock exchanges in the world based on total market capitalization.