The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is a major stock market index, one that is often considered a benchmark for the broad market. It tracks the performance of about 500 large companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

Many investors will simply adopt a strategy of investing their money in a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that passively tracks the S&P 500 and hold that position for a long period of time, which has proven to generate strong returns. The index will give you exposure to a wide group of stocks that generally are resilient long term, given their size and scale.

However, with the market struggling this year and the S&P 500 firmly in a bear market, down more than 25%, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at the more recent performance of the S&P 500 and see how the benchmark index has performed since the turn of the 21st century.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com