Understanding the S&P 500’s historical performance ... analysts have information on how S&P 500 returns change if dividends are reinvested. Several charts on this page include our own ...

Investing in the S&P 500 offers a 10% average annual return, encompassing 500 major U.S. stocks. Historical data shows the S&P 500 had high variability but outperformed in the long run.

In a recent post, I discussed Wall Street’s return estimates for 2025 for the S&P 500 index. To wit ... real returns are roughly 7.5% annually. The chart below shows the average annual ...

Let’s start with the historical perspective. Most of the time the stock market has earned positive returns Figure 1 in the chart below shows the annual return in the S&P 500 since 1926 ...

The top 20 S&P 500 companies accounted for 53.2% of Q3 2024 buybacks, a marginal rise from Q2 2024’s 52.3% and above the historical average of 47.6% and the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.