This article is a summary of the closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index, a United States stock market index. Since first closing at 16.66 on January 3, 1950, the S&P 500 has increased, despite several periods of decline, most recently after the financial crisis.
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
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, 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. Two days later, the index hits an intraday record high of 1,576.09. It did not regain this closing level until March 28, 2013.
October 13, 2008: S&P 500 marks its best daily percentage gain, rising 11.58 percent. It also registers its then-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 (it hit a 666.79 intraday low on March 6), its closing low after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
February 5, 2018: After months of low volatility, S&P 500 registers a new largest daily point loss of 113.19 points, equivalent to more than 4%. Three days later, the index suffered another heavy loss of nearly the same amount.[1]
December 26, 2018: While on pace for the worst December performance since the Great Depression, S&P 500 registers a new largest daily point gain of 116.60 points, which translates to roughly 5% on the index.[2]
February 19, 2020: The S&P 500 index reached its highest point in the bull market that started from the low point on March 9, 2009.
March 12, 2020: The S&P 500 index suffered its worst daily decline since 1987's Black Monday, falling 9.5 percent, as a result of anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic.[3] The decline of more than 20% since its peak, only 16 trading days earlier, signaled the start of a bear market.
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. Bold formatting is applied to every five milestones, excluding peaks.[5]
^The 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.
^The 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.
^This was the S&P 500's close at the peak on September 20, 2018 prior to the rapid selloff within the last quarter of the same year. While a 20% decline was recognized on an intraday-basis, the threshold was not met on a closing-basis, leading some to call it a correction and others a bear market.[7]
