What Is the S&P 500 Index? The S&P 500 Index, or Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, is a market-capitalization-weighted index of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the U.S. It is not an exact list of the top 500 U.S. companies by market cap because there are other criteria that the index includes. Still, the S&P
What Is the S&P 500 Buyback Index? The S&P 500 Buyback Index tracks the performance of the 100 S&P 500 stocks with the highest buyback ratios over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 Buyback Index is equal-weighted and rebalanced quarterly, with the rebalancing reference dates occurring on the last trading day of each calendar
What Is the S&P 500 Pure Value Index? The term S&P 500 Pure Value Index refers to a score-weighted index developed by Standard and Poor’s (S&P). The index uses what it calls a “style-attractiveness-weighting scheme” and only consists of stocks within the S&P 500 Index that exhibit strong value characteristics. The index was launched in
What Is the S&P 600? The S&P 600 is an index of small-cap stocks managed by Standard & Poor’s. It tracks a broad range of small-sized companies that meet specific liquidity and stability requirements. This is determined by specific metrics such as public float, market capitalization, and financial viability, among other factors. Key Takeaways The S&P 600 is
What Are Soft Dollars? Soft dollars are a means of paying brokerage firms for their services through commission revenue, as opposed to through hard-dollar direct payments. The investing public tends to have a negative perception of soft-dollar arrangements. Many investors believe that buy-side firms should pay expenses out of their own profits. As a result
What Is a Soft Fork? In blockchain technology, a soft fork is a change to the software protocol where only previously valid transaction blocks are made invalid. Because old nodes will recognize the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is backwards-compatible. This kind of fork requires only a majority of the miners upgrading to enforce
What Is a Soft Credit Check? A soft credit check is an inquiry into your credit report initiated either by you or a company. It can occur even if you didn’t apply for credit and is primarily used to screen for preapproval financing offer or background check. The good news is that a soft inquiry
What Is a Soft Landing? A soft landing, in economics, is a cyclical slowdown in economic growth that avoids recession. A soft landing is the goal of a central bank when it seeks to raise interest rates just enough to stop an economy from overheating and experiencing high inflation, without causing a severe downturn. Soft
What Is a Soft Loan? A soft loan is a loan with no interest or a below-market rate of interest. Also known as “soft financing” or “concessional funding,” soft loans have lenient terms, such as extended grace periods in which only interest or service charges are due, and interest holidays. They typically offer longer amortization
What Are Soft Metrics? In finance, the term “soft metrics” is used to describe indicators related to the value or performance of a company which deviate from traditional “hard” metrics such as net profit margins or earnings per share (EPS). Soft metrics are typically used when hard metrics are difficult to obtain. During periods of
