How many of the S&P 500 companies saw their stock prices rise yesterday (May 18th)? You might be surprised by the answer.

All three major stock indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones) were down by 3.5%+ on 5/18. Why? Target (today) and Walmart (yesterday) are sounding the alarm about the stretched consumer and there's a growing awareness of the FED's commitment to ratchet up interest rates to quell inflation. This is putting investors in a foul mood. I wondered how the individual components of the S&P 500 (largest U.S. companies based on their stock market value) performed. 

Avert your eyes to the market rout on May 18th (from FinViz's S&P 500 visualization). Since this is a snapshot in time, when you click the link after 9:30et on May 19th, you will see the market map for that day's activity. 

Just to orient you:

• Colors: Red is declining and green is increasing stock prices
• Percents: represent the change in the stock price
• Area: represents the stock market value of the company (larger the area the larger the stock market value). 
• 1 to 4 letter symbols: stock tickers. Some may be familiar such as MSFT (Microsoft), AAPL (Apple), AMZN (Amazon)

A few questions for your students:

• What are the largest companies among the S&P 500 based on the area they occupy? 
• The S&P 500 index was down about 4%. Name a few companies that did better than the index? a few that did worse? 
• What other takeaways from the interactive? 

Back to the question of how many of the S&P 500 companies rose on Wednesday (5/18). The answer is 9. 

This picture looks a little brighter: 

Why? That's a look at the performance of S&P component companies over the last 12 months. Good lesson on why it's important to focus on the longer term and not get jostled by short-term volatility. 

Want to have your students explore this resource in more depth? We have an activity for that! Interactive: What's the S&P 500? 

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Teacher tip video featuring Amanda Volz will help guide you through this activity. 

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About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.