Fact checked by Vikki Velasquez The S&P 500, also popularly called "the market," is a benchmark that tracks the performance of around 500 of the U.S.'s largest publicly traded companies. The S&P 500 is inherently well-diversified and highly efficient.

Buying the S&P 500 index is a great wealth-building investment. One of the lowest-cost ways to do that today is with the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF, which has a tiny 0.03% expense ratio. But is this exchange-traded fund (ETF) the best option for all investors?

Live Updates Live Coverage Has Ended OpenAI's Bold Moves 1:20 pm by OpenAI announced it is buying Jony Ive’s AI devices startup in a blockbuster $6.4 billion deal, including OpenAI’s pre-existing investment.

Index funds provide efficient and low-cost broad market exposure, which makes them an ideal choice for long-term investment portfolios. Investors frequently look to S&P 500 index funds as well as “total market” index funds as their primary investment choices.

U.S. equity-index futures have turned lower an hour-and-a-half ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. The S&P 500 is now in line for a 0.2% fall, having shown minor gains for much of the session. T

And the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF will tend to have a higher yield than a market-cap weighted S&P 500 ETF because larger, popular stocks often have lower yields. By investing more in smaller, higher yielding stocks, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF boosts the overall portfolio's yield by around 30 basis points.

The S&P 500 continued its upward momentum on the strength of progress toward multiple trade deals in the past week. Click to read.

History shows that pullbacks can provide buying opportunities for savvy investors. Understanding a few key market indicators can help you decide when to buy.

Live Updates Live Coverage Has Ended Q1 Earnings Surprises 12:32 pm by Gerelyn Terzo The bulk of S&P 500 companies have now unveiled their Q1 earnings, and the consensus from FactSet data points to a largely impressive showing.

The S&P 500 was moving closer to being little changed on the day, just ahead of the announced results from Treasury's $16 billion auction of 20-year notes. The index was down by roughly 4 points, or less than 0.

Coinbase's S&P 500 debut comes after the company disclosed a cyberattack and is facing an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Asian markets fell Thursday, following Wall Street lower as concerns over a new U.S. budget bill and ballooning deficit pressured sentiment. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.8%, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also shed 1.2%, and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%.