> The S&P 500 doesn't (well, shouldn't) make value judgments about the quality of the companies in it. It's just the 500 largest companies on US exchanges. That

> The S&P 500 doesn't (well, shouldn't) make value judgments about the quality of the companies in it. It's just the 500 largest companies on US exchanges. That's what people who use it want. "Like other indices managed by S&P Dow Jones Indices, but unlike indices such as the Russell 1000 which are strictly rule-based, the components of the S&P 500 index are selected by a committee. When considering the eligibility of a new addition, the committee assesses the company's merit using eight primary criteria: market capitalization, liquidity, domicile, public float, Global Industry Classification Standard and representation of the industries in the economy of the United States, financial viability, length of time publicly traded, and stock exchange." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500_Index#Selection_criteria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500_Index#Selection_crit...