Historically speaking, there's a 50% chance the S&P 500 drops 10% (or more) at some point in 2026. Adding to that, the average time between corrections is about once every 18 months. The last correction came in April of 2025, so it would be perfectly average if the index had another correction in late 2026.

S&P 500 could gain 12-13% by 2026, led by earnings growth despite high valuations. Click for my outlook and why AI, defense and aerospace will lead.

The S&P 500 index hit an intraday record high on Wednesday, its first in over a month, as investors returned to AI stocks and bet the Federal Reserve will cut rates again next year.

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is on course for a solid 2025. With just a couple of trading days left in the year, the index is up almost 17%. That's not bad considering the average annual total return for the S&P 500 (including dividends) is about 10%.

Explore a probability-based forecast for the S&P 500 in 2026, highlighting risks, upside potential, and key tech sector influences.

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Shares of the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, often seen as an equal-weight counterpart to the cap-weighted version of the S&P 500, again outperformed the standard index on Monday, as stocks' rally broadened.

The S&P 500 Index and its top ETFs, such as VOO and SPY, remained in a tight range over the past few months as jitters in the AI industry intensified.

The S&P 500 rose 31.30 points, or 0.5%, to 6,909.79, surpassing the record set earlier in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79.73 points, or 0.2%, to 48,442.41. The Nasdaq composite rose 133.02 points, or 0.6%, to 23,561.84.

The Vanguard FTSE Pacific ETF measures the performance of 2,300 companies located in Asia-Pacific countries, particularly Japan, Australia, and South Korea. The index fund is most heavily weighted toward stocks in three market sectors: financials, industrials, and consumer discretionary. The top five holdings are listed by weight below:

U.S. stock indices stay bullish, with strong upward momentum across the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow despite lighter, holiday-shortened trading.

The S&P 500's blistering run has pushed the benchmark within striking distance of a level that once sounded like science fiction. With the index already well above 6,800, the idea that it could tag 7,