Visualizing decades of stock market performance

Read about the evolution of the S&P 500 and its recession recovery

Since the S&P 500 is considered a bellwether index (meaning it represents the health of the US economy), its value is important for investors in both bull and bear markets. The S&P 500 has been impacted by recessions and downturns, from the 1970s oil crisis to the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.

The stock market's volatility between 2017 and 2025, visualized

The CBOE Volatility Index measures expected stock market volatility using the prices of options on the S&P 500. When traders expect large moves in the market, options prices tend to rise as more options are purchased to bet on the direction of the move.

See a timeline of S&P Global's history—the company behind the S&P 500

From the 1941 merger of Standard Statistics and Poor's Publishing to the creation of the S&P 500 in 1957, the company that created the famous index has long been a leader in financial intelligence.

The stock market has crashed many times throughout history

Have you ever wondered how long it takes the market to recover after a crash? This chart outlines major stock market dips throughout history and tracks how many days it took for the market to recover.

The S&P 500 has an average intra-year drawdown of -16%

In a given year, the value of the S&P 500 can significantly fluctuate. An intra-year drawdown is the most significant difference between the index's peak and lowest point.

Stock indexes track markets through groupings of companies

A stock index measures the performance of selected companies, offering a snapshot of market trends. Examples include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite.

See the world’s largest stock markets in 1900 versus 2023

The US is now home to the world's largest stock market, but that wasn't always the case. This data visualization shows where the largest stock markets in the world were in 1900, then compares that map to the current geographical distribution of stock markets today, based on each country’s percentage share of global market capitalization. See what it looks like by clicking here.

Relive the biggest swings in the Dow’s history

From the 1929 crash to the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020, this piece spotlights five of the most dramatic single-day moves in the Dow’s 125-year history.

Visualizing 40 years of interest rates

The history of interest rates are a proxy of macroeconomic conditions, with higher interest rates indicating periods of decline requiring artificial central stimulation. In a series of charts illustrating rates and their background conditions, you can see the movement of the economy over a forty-year period ending in 2020. Dive into the data here.

In late 2025, the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 made up more than 40% of the index's total value

This raised concerns for investors about the index's risk exposure. As many large tech companies continued posting record highs, analysts argued that the top-heavy index was becoming less representative of the economy as a whole.

How the S&P 500 performed in the first 100 days of each modern US presidential term

The S&P 500 was up 5.3% during President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office during his first term as president, and down 7.1% during the first 100 days of his second term.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

The stock market, explained in 3 minutes

Curious about the inner workings of the stock market? 1440's got your breakdown of how it works.

S&P 500 stocks that have increased their dividends for 25 consecutive years are called 'dividend aristocrats'

Dividend aristocrats are considered the best of the best on the S&P 500—all with market capitalizations above $3B, more than $5M in daily trading volume, and consecutive dividend growth for a minimum of 25 years. Some examples of dividend aristocrats are Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Walmart.

Visualizing 100 years of Pulitzers

This fascinating data visualization breaks down a century of Pulitzer Prizes. Award categories are laid out against a timeline, and the symbols used to represent each winner indicate the topic of the winning work; the number of prizes won by that outlet thus far; and whether the prize was awarded to an individual or a newsroom. For the best viewing experience, zoom in using the magnifying glass on the cursor until it hits full-screen mode.

Some institutional investors are growing wary of private equity, as certain investments underperform traditional market indices

Private equity often attracts investors who can afford to tie up capital for long periods of time in exchange for higher returns than traditional investments. For many years, private equity at least tracked with the S&P 500 in terms of returns to investors, but in 2024 and 2025, it underperformed and posted declining returns.

How the stock market performed under every US president

It's worth noting that the stock market as we know it today didn't exist under the leadership of earlier presidents, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Charting 4,000 years of human history

Care to hang all of human history on your wall? This data visualization charts 4,000 years of humanity. This "histomap" was originally published in 1931 and sold for $1 per copy of the 5-foot-long chart. It was said to detail the course of...

One $100 investment in the Medallion Fund skyrockets over time

The Medallion Fund, the famously secretive quant fund that invests billions of dollars for the partners and employees of a single firm with a legendary track record, has trounced the market for more than three decades. While its results are an extreme outlier, this visualization showcases the power of compound interest.

Browse over a century of Billboard issues

For a music nerd, there's nothing more fascinating than poring over the Billboard charts from past decades to see how music—and the way it's categorized—has evolved. This digital archive allows you to click through almost every issue of the magazine and, in the process, watch the gradual emergence of nearly every American musical trend of the past century.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Microsoft was the most popular stock in hedge fund portfolios as of Q1 2024

874 hedge funds held Microsoft stock at the time. This infographic shows more of the most popular stocks in hedge fund portfolios.

What a $1K investment in P&G stock 20 years ago would be worth today

If someone put $1K into P&G stock 20 years ago, it would be worth about $5.2K in 2025, making its annualized return about 8.6%. For context, the S&P 500 has had an annualized return of 10.7% over the same time period.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

See a visual representation Elon Musk's many tweets over a decade

Musk was known for tweeting often long before he purchased Twitter, later renaming the social network "X." One week in August 2024, Elon Musk posted 650 times. This data visualization shows an analysis of roughly 15,000 of his tweets from 2011 to 2021.

Slick interfaces and bundling helped solidify Excel as the corporate planning tool

First initiated in the 1980s, the Excel spreadsheet built off predecessors like Lotus and VisiCalc, leveraging a novel graphic interface to entice new customers and packaging the program with other Microsoft Office products. Forty years later, the tool faces challenges from Google and AI, but retains devoted users.

Explore an interactive history of Google search trends

This interactive allows users to browse for the most searched topics on Google Search since 1999 and provides noteworthy statistics. Topics are sorted by categories, including athletes, movies, reality TV, dog breeds, and sauces.

League tables show the number of deals top investment banks do in a time period

These tables provide a visual to help keep track of the leading companies in investment banking. Companies such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs typically sit up top.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.