Closing milestones of the S&P 500

This article is a summary of the closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index, a United States stock market index. Since opening at 16.66 on January 3, 1950, the S&P 500 has substantially increased despite several periods of decline.^[1]

History

S&P 500 Index from 1950 to 2016

Standard & Poor's, initially known as the Standard Statistics Company, created its first stock market index in 1923. It consisted of 233 different stocks and was computed on a weekly basis. Three years later, it developed a 90 component composite price index that was computed on a daily basis; that was expanded over the years. On March 4, 1957, the Standard & Poor's 500 (.INX) (.SPX) was introduced.

Milestone highs and lows

• June 4, 1968: S&P 500 closes above 100 for the first time.
• October 19, 1987: S&P 500 registers its largest daily percentage loss, falling 20.47 percent. The one-day crash, known as "Black Monday," was blamed on program trading and those using a hedging strategy known as portfolio insurance. Despite the losses, the S&P 500 still closed positive for the year.
• March 24, 1995: The S&P 500 index closes above 500 for the first time. In exactly five years time, the S&P 500 tripled its value, and reached its peak prior to the dot-com bubble.
• February 2, 1998: S&P 500 closes above 1,000 for the first time.
• March 15, 1999: The S&P 500 closed above 1,300 for the first time. On the next day, the more commonly followed Dow Jones Industrial Average traded above 10,000 points for the first time.
• March 24, 2000: The S&P 500 index reaches an all-time intraday high of 1,552.87 during the dot-com bubble.
• October 9, 2007: Index closes at a record high of 1,565.15, the highest close prior to the 2008 financial crisis.
• October 11, 2007: S&P 500 hits an intraday record high of 1,576.09.
• October 13, 2008: S&P 500 marks its best daily percentage gain, rising 11.58 percent. It also registers its largest single-day point increase of 104.13 points.
• December 31, 2008: For the year, S&P 500 falls 38.49 percent, its worst yearly percentage loss. In September 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed as the financial crisis spread.
• March 9, 2009: S&P 500 closes at 676.53, its closing low after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
• March 28, 2013: S&P 500 ends at 1,569.19, surpassing its previous record closing high set in 2007.
• April 10, 2013: S&P 500 hits new all-time intraday record high at 1,589.07, surpassing the previous record of 1,576.09 set during trading on October 11, 2007.
• May 3, 2013: S&P 500 closes above 1,600 for the first time, finishing at 1,614.42 after a much better-than-expected April U.S. non-farm payrolls report. The index also hit an all-time intraday high of 1,618.46.
• August 1, 2013: S&P 500 closes above 1,700 for the first time, finishing at 1,706.87, as well as reaching an all-time intraday high of 1,707.85.^[2]
• November 22, 2013: S&P 500 closes above 1,800 for the first time, finishing at 1,804.76 points.
• May 23, 2014: S&P 500 closes above 1,900 for the first time, finishing at 1,900.53 points.
• August 26, 2014: S&P 500 closes above 2,000 for the first time, finishing at 2,000.02 points.
• February 17, 2015: S&P 500 closes above 2,100 for the first time, finishing at 2,100.34 points.^[3]
• November 22, 2016: S&P 500 closes above 2,200 for the first time, finishing at 2,202.94 points.
• February 9, 2017: S&P 500 closes above 2,300 for the first time, finishing at 2,307.87 points.
• May 15, 2017: S&P 500 closes above 2,400 for the first time, finishing at 2,402.32 points.

Records

Incremental closing milestones

The following is a list of the milestone closing levels of the S&P 500. 1-point increments are used up to the 20-point level; 2 to 50; 5 to 100; 10 to 500; 20 to 1,000; 50 to 3,000; and 100-point increments thereafter. Additional milestones may be used if necessary.^[4]

The Post-World War II Boom (1949–1966)

The 1970s Bear Market (1967–1973)

The Early 1980s Bull Depression (1980–1982)

The Mid-1980s Bull Market (1982–1987)

The 1990s Technology Bubble (1989–2000)

The Mid-2000s Cyclical Bull Market (2007)

The Mid 2010s Bull Market (2013-Present)

Notes

¹This was the S&P 500's very first close on January 3, 1950.
²This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on February 9, 1966.
³This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on January 11, 1973 before the 1973–74 stock market crash.
⁴This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on November 28, 1980.
⁵This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on August 25, 1987 before the Black Monday stock market crash.
⁶This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on March 24, 2000 before the dot-com crash.^[5]
7This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on October 9, 2007 before the 2008 financial crisis.
⁸This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on May 21, 2015 before the 2015-16 stock market selloff.
⁹The S&P first crossed 2,300 during the day on January 26, 2017 before falling below the level at closing. After that, the S&P retreated away from the 2,300-pt milestone for a possible selloff in the next month. It took two weeks for the S&P to finally close above 2,300.
¹⁰The S&P first crossed 2,400 during the day on March 1, 2017 before falling below the level at closing. After that, the S&P retreated away from the 2,400-pt milestone and then closed within 1 point of the milestone on May 5, 2017. Then on May 8, 2017, the S&P traded above 2,400 intraday then closed below that milestone again and did it the third time the very next day. However, it took until May 15, 2017 for the S&P to finally close above 2,400.

See also

• Closing milestones of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Closing milestones of the Nasdaq Composite
• List of largest daily changes in the S&P 500 Index
• Wilshire 5000#Record High Wilshire 5000 Index Values
• Russell 3000 Index#Record values
• Nasdaq-100 #Records

References

External links

• S&P 500 Historical Chart Data