About Market Index History

Market Index History uses illustrative charts and graphs to convey historical performance and trends of market indices. The market indices covered are the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite, and Russell 2000. Market index data are end-of-day data, and are updated after the close of every trading session.

Our mission is to provide information about the historical performance of market indices in a readily accessible manner. Increasingly, individuals of all generations are becoming actively engaged in the markets through a variety of investment portfolios. Moreover, investing in index funds and exchange traded funds that track market indices is becoming an important component of diversified investment portfolios. Therefore, we believe it is in the best interest of individuals of all ages to become educated about the markets and market trends. A good way of gaining this knowledge is through understanding how market indices have historically performed over short and long periods of time.

Our market index analyses provide a number of ways in which investors and others can gain insights into the historical performance of markets. While we do not believe that historical performance should ever be used as a sole indicator for predicting what is to come, we do strongly believe that market historical performance informs a broad understanding of the range of possible outcomes for which wise investors must be prepared. Markets go up and down, and wise investors must understand the natural volatility of markets, and be prepared for all possible outcomes to ensure steady capital growth over a long time horizon even in the face of natural short-term fluctuations.

We believe in sound investment strategies with a long view of market potential. By providing information about the long-term performance of market indices, we hope to convey to young investors that time and compounding interest are incredibly powerful tools that reward sound investment decisions. By nature, we humans tend to focus on the most recent events and data points. Perhaps we have recency bias, or perhaps our short-term memory dominates our cognitive faculties. We hope our analysis tools reinforce the need for a longer view and broader understanding of the historical trends markets have presented to us.

We would love to hear from you! If you have any suggestions on how we can better achieve our mission, please send us a note.

Thank you for visiting our pages and utilizing our market index analysis tools.

Market Index History Team