Here's Where the S&P 500 Could Finish in 2023, and Why These 2 Stocks Are a Buy
The S&P 500 index is the most widely followed benchmark on Wall Street. Retail investors, analysts, and fund managers alike use it to gauge the relative performances of their own stock portfolios because the index -- comprised of 500 of the largest U.S. companies across all industries -- represents a cross-section of the broader economy.
In 2022, it declined by 19.4%, and even factoring in dividends, its total return level fell by 18.1% -- the index's worst performance since the 2008 global financial crisis.
The S&P 500 in its present form was constructed in 1957. In the 65-year stretch since then, there were two periods when the index declined in consecutive years, and both were triggered by significant political and economic events. They include President Nixon's Watergate scandal from 1972 to 1974 combined with the OPEC oil embargo, and the dot-com tech bust in the early 2000s.
Source Fool.com
