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Q: What about Apple's recent struggles? Has its stock held the index back? A: Yes. Apple is just one of 500 companies in the index but it's still big enough, and its slump bad enough, to weigh it down. Since crossing above $700 last September, Apple's stock has dropped 37 percent to $442. Silverblatt calculated that if Apple had been trading at $650, the S&P 500 would have topped its all-time high on March 5, the same day the Dow cleared its old mark. Q: Which industries have powered the index up since 2009? The answer shows just how nervous everybody was during the financial crisis. Back then, investors ditched banks, along with stocks from companies selling cars, jewelry and other goods that people stop buying when they're worried about money. Since March 2009, banks have more than tripled, gaining 212 percent, according to FactSet data. Those so-called consumer-discretionary companies have gained even more. Q: Which S&P 500 company has done best since the market bottom? A: Wyndham Worldwide, a manager of hotels and resorts, has had the best run over the past four years
-- by far. Wyndham's stock has soared 2,130 percent since 2009, according to FactSet. That surge tracked the company's turnaround. In 2008, Wyndham lost $1 billion. Over the past year, it has posted a $400 million profit, reflecting the rise in vacation travel. and popularity of its time shares. In second place sits CBS, the broadcasting company, with a gain of 1,500 percent. Q: What about the losers? A: Some companies are in worse shape than during the dark days of the financial crisis. First Solar has lost 75 percent since March 2009. The once-popular maker of thin-film solar panels has faced a growing crowd of competitors and prices for solar panels have plunged. Apollo Group comes in a close second, dropping 74 percent. Scandals at for-profit schools led to tighter government scrutiny of the industry, and enrollment subsequently fell at the company's University of Phoenix. Q: How do companies get into the 500 club? A: A team of Standard & Poor's economists and analysts known as the Index Committee manages the group. The committee aims to have the index represent the makeup of the overall market, Silverblatt says, not to pick the 500 largest companies. For instance, utilities could surge in popularity someday and overtake banks in their share of the market. The index would then be tweaked to reflect the new rankings, he says. The committee would probably drop one lightweight bank and replace it with a growing utility. Q: How many companies have been removed from the S&P 500 in the past four years? Why? A: Since March 2009, a total of 79 companies have dropped out. When companies leave, it's often because they have been bought by another member of the 500 club, Silverblatt says. But S&P will also pull a company if its market value has shrunk drastically, or if it doesn't have enough publicly traded shares. Some of the missing companies are well-known, mighty giants whose fortunes have faded. Sears, Roebuck was in the index at the beginning in 1957. But last August, Sears Holdings lost its spot to the chemical maker LyondellBassell. On Dec. 17, 2010, Eastman Kodak and The New York Times Co. were unseated by Newfield Exploration and F5 Networks. Q: How long has the index been around? A: Since March 4, 1957. That's when S&P took its indices that tracked industry groups -- transportation, utilities and financials -- and merged them with the old S&P 400, according to Silverblatt. It gained in popularity throughout the 1960s, as researchers began applying the tools of statistics to politics, health care and, eventually, markets. Compared with the Dow, which launched in 1896, it's still an upstart. Q: What are other highlights and lowlights for the S&P? A: The index started at 44.06 on March 4, 1957 and broke the 1,000 mark on February 2, 1998. Its worst day was Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday, when financial markets crashed in a wave of panic selling. The index plunged 21 percent, losing 57.86 points, to end the day at 224.84. Measured in points, the biggest one-day loss came during the height of the financial crisis, Sept. 29, 2008. The index dropped 106.62 points that day to close at 1,106.39, a loss of 9 percent. Its best day came exactly two weeks later on Oct. 13, 2008, when governments in the U.S. and Europe announced sweeping plans to shore up the battered global financial system. The index rose by 104.14 points, or 12 percent, to end the day at 1,003.35. That's the biggest one-day jump in points and percentage.
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