The S&P 500 (SPX) continues to rally today as tech stocks are doing the heavy lifting to keep the index in the green. Leading the way are Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Nvidia (NVDA). Meta Platforms (META) and Amazon (AMZN) are strongly contributing to the S&P 500’s increase as well.
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The S&P 500’s movement today includes a 0.35% rally as of this writing. This builds on recent positive movement, which has the index up 1.33% over the last five days. Taking that further, the index has risen 25.53% year-to-date.
Federal Reserve Minutes Come Out Today
Investors and economists are also eagerly awaiting the minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting that are coming out later today. This will provide them with insight into the central bank’s stance on inflation and a potential interest rate cut at its next meeting, which starts on December 17 and lasts through December 18. The S&P 500, as well as other indices, are likely to be affected by these minutes.
Investors will also keep in mind that the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index report is coming out tomorrow. This is another method that the Fed uses to measure inflation. Its results are also likely to affect stocks and indices after its release.
How to Invest in the S&P 500
Being an index, traders can’t invest in the S&P 500 directly. Even so, there are options that allow them to bet on it. Traders who want to invest in the S&P 500 will want to buy shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the exchange.
Several ETFs follow the S&P 500, meaning traders have many options to choose from, as pictured below. Some of the major ETFs that do are SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSTNL), and SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPLG). As these ETFs are tied to the S&P 500, they often move in sympathy with it.