S&P 500 Happy 50th anniverary !

March 5, 2007

Apologies for I haven't posted for a while. Just catching up with the enormous number of emails in the group.

Lets say sorry folks, just trying to help out JohnTWB the blazingstar while he's basking in the limelight LOL

Congratulations John and thankyou for helping me and us all with your tireless, methodical and "historical" service in "the archaic domain" LOL.

John seriously speaking we're all eternally grateful for having you around. The other mundane groups would be envious of the depth and "unrelenting" research that you have carried out for us here. The depth and extent of historical records made available to us all would not have been possible had it not been for your invaluable and tireless efforts. Thankyou !

I tried replicating what you do so well and realised what a time consuming and tiresome job you took on for the group. That honor was indeed hard but well earned and highly deserved.

Here's a little bit of research dedicated in the honour of our blazingstar.

The world's most followed S & P 500 index :

http://biz./cbsm/070303/36cdabb1a3a8435ea49421d9e4b0eac9.html?.v=3

".....

The S & P 500 (CDNX:SPX.V - News) made its debut on March 4, 1957, and in the decades that followed it has become one of the most-watched stock market indices. Although more investors on Main Street pay attention to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI:^DJI - News), more people on Wall Street probably pay attention to the S & P 500 than to any other index. ........."

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_500anniv/2,3,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0.html

"2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the S & P 500.

The S & P 500 index was introduced on March 4th, 1957 as a benchmark in measuring the performance of the U.S. stock market. Since its inception, the S & P 500 has become the world’s most widely followed measure of the U.S. markets.

........ "

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_500anniv/2,3,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,2,1,0,0,0,0,0.html

......

An excerpt of from the “Complete Historical Timeline of the S & P 500”:

1957 – On March 4th, the S & P 500 daily composite stock price index was launched, consisting of 425 industrials, 15 rails and 60 utilities. 1960 – Hourly S & P 500 indices were made available to the general public by telephone at no charge. 1964 – The SEC ended production of its price indices and substituted the S & P 500. 1975 – The first index mutual fund offered to individual investors was later named the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, which tracks the S & P 500. 1982 – Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) began trading futures based on S & P’s composite index of 500 stocks.

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/index/SP500_Internal_Records_Timeline_Web.pdf

1957 On March 4th, the S & P 500 daily composite stock price index ws launched. It is based on 500 stocks consisting of 425 industrials, 15 rails and 60 utilities, computed at one-minute intervals and published as of each hour in S & P's Corporation Records Service. Daily High, Low and Close of the indices are published in the weekly Outlook and the monthly Current Statistics. Components of the daily 90 stock indices were standardized with the 500 stock index as of March 1, 1957. The S & P 500 index was computed back to 1928 with the base period of 1941-43 = 100.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S & P_500

"....

Prior to 1957, the primary S & P stock market index consisted of 90 companies, known as the S & P 90, and was published on a daily basis. A broader index of 423 companies was also published weekly. On March 4, 1957, a broad, real-time stock market index, the S & P 500 was introduced. This introduction was made possible by advancements in the computer industry which allowed the index to be calculated and disseminated in real time.

............"

http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/FINANCE/SandP500Hist.html

"....

History [back to top]

The introduction of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was made on March 4, 1957. The objective is to find a more perfect means of measuring the performance of the U.S. stock market. In 1923, Standard & Poor's introduced to the financial world a new methodology for evaluating stock performance called the "base-weighted" aggregative technique, which, back then, was not easily implemented. As explained in the March 11, 1957, edition of The Outlook:

The Standard "500" is based on the scientific weighting formula pioneered by Standard & Poor's in this field. The price of each stock is multiplied by the number of shares outstanding, to give the aggregate current value of investments in the 500 issues. This aggregate is then related to a standard (1941-43) market base, which is given a value of 10.

Using this method, it is possible to make absolute corrections for splits and similar capital changes without affecting the continuity of the index or the relative importance of the stock to the over-all index. Thus the Standard "500" avoids the distortions created in the popular "averages" by splits, rights, or stock dividends.

This methodology made it possible for investment professionals to directly compare the performance of their stock portfolios with a stock market indicator that measured the changes in value of a market portfolio. Until 1923, the only stock market indicator available was the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Although popular and easy to understand, the DJIA did not address that need of the professional investor.

............"

cheers

prem

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