standard and poor's 500 stock index meaning

• [Economics]
  = S&P 500

  The widest general-market index of stocks produced by the US rating agency Standard and Poor; it is made up of 425 shares in US industrial companies and 75 stocks in railway and public-utility corporations. Standard and Poor also rate stocks according to the element of risk involved in holding them. The least risky stocks are rated AAA (triple A) and the most speculative are rated triple D.

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