It’s all about how you slice the index pie.

Last week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) closed at a new record high even though 329 of its 500 stocks lost value, reported Connor Smith of Barron’s.

How is that possible? The S&P 500 is a capitalization-weighted index.

Imagine the S&P 500 as a pie. Each stock in the index is one slice of that pie, and all of the slices are different sizes. The size of each company’s slice is determined by its market capitalization. (Market capitalization is a stock’s share price times the number of shares outstanding). For example, if:

• Company A has a stock price of $50 and 100 shares outstanding, then it has a capitalization of $5000.
• Company B has a stock price of $100 and 1000 shares outstanding, then it has a capitalization of $100,000.

If both companies were in the S&P 500, Company B would be a bigger slice in the index pie.

One of the companies with the largest slices of S&P 500 pie is a chipmaker with a share price of about $200 and more than 20 billion shares outstanding. Its capitalization was recently more than $5 trillion.

A company of this size is called a mega-cap company because it’s so large. When mega-cap company stocks gain value, they can pull the entire S&P 500 up, even when smaller companies are falling, reported Adam Hayes of Investopedia.

In contrast, if the S&P 500 was equal-weighted, every company’s slice would be the same size. As a result, every stock would have equal influence, so the index’s performance would reflect the performance of all of the companies. If most stocks were falling, then an equal-weighted index would probably move lower.

From a practical perspective, when a capitalization-weighted index is rising, and most of its stocks are falling, then a handful of sizeable companies are performing exceptionally well. Last week, a small group of companies in the S&P 500 did exceptionally well.

It’s still early in earnings season, which is the time when companies let investors know how they performed in the previous quarter. With 28 percent of S&P 500 companies reporting actual results so far, the index is on track to report its highest net profit margin (+13.4 percent) in more than 15 years. The Information Technology sector is leading the way with profits for the companies that have reported so far up 29.1 percent in the first quarter of 2026 compared to up 25.4 percent in the first quarter of last year, according to John Butters of FactSet.

“Semiconductor stocks are in the midst of a historic run, a winning streak that is every bit as impressive as Joe DiMaggio’s famous stretch of 56 straight games with a hit,” reported Paul R. La Monica of Barron’s.

Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished the week higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost value. In addition, yields on longer maturities of U.S. Treasuries moved higher over the week.

S&P 500, Dow Jones Global ex-US, S&P GSCI Gold Index, Bloomberg Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends. The three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods. 

Sources: Yahoo! Finance; MarketWatch; djindexes.com; U.S. Treasury.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable.

RETIREMENT CONFIDENCE FALLS. Stock markets have been climbing higher, but many Americans are feeling less optimistic about retirement. In fact, retirement confidence in the United States dropped significantly in 2026 on worries about Social Security, Medicare and inflation, according to the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefits Research Institute and Greenwald Research.

In 2026, American workers are less confident than they were in 2025 that they’ll have enough money to pay for basic expenses in retirement. Just 58 percent of workers and 71 percent of retirees are confident they will have enough money to keep up with inflation and cost of living in retirement. People who participated in the Retirement Confidence Survey were:

Alicia Munnell and Gal Wettstein of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College reported on a survey that found Americans across the wealth spectrum have become more concerned about the impacts of potential changes to Social Security and Medicare on their retirement plans. The concerns have led some to begin saving more for emergencies, delaying retirement, and/or investing more conservatively.

Decisions like these should not be made lightly. For example, investing more conservatively may be a sound choice or it could a choice that makes it more difficult to reach a comfortable retirement. It depends on individual circumstances and goals. Investing conservatively can reduce short-term ups and downs, but it also can limit long-term growth potential and the benefits of compounding.

If you have questions about retirement, please get in touch. We’re happy to review your plan or help you build one.

WEEKLY FOCUS – THINK ABOUT IT

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”

―  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Former U.S. President