Bucky wrote:
- quote -

The S&P 500 is subject to style drift, tending toward growth. This is
because, as a free float capitalization weighted index, the larger the
company becomes, the greater the percentage of the index must be
allocated to that company. In short, it tilts toward fast growing
companies - momentum style growth investing.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/mag/arti...----2-,00.html
("In some ways, investing in the S&P 500 becomes a momentum play ...")

This effect was perhaps most pronounced in the late '90s, when the
largest companies were dominating the stock market:
"'In our view, the S&P is currently [late 1998] a somewhat misleading
benchmark for the average stock -- in fact, given the weighting of
issues at the top -- with 25 significantly high P/E stocks representing
37% of the overall 500 valuation -- it's really become more of a growth
index.'"
http://www.highbeam.com/library/docf...G%3AResult&ao=

If you look at pages that show "historical investment style" (e.g.
Fidelity fund pages), they currently show the S&P 500 index funds as
sitting squarely within large cap blend. But if you had looked at these
same pages a few years ago (when they still reflected some '90s
portfolio attributes), you would have seen the S&P 500 tending to drift
into large cap growth.

By no means am I suggesting the the S&P 500 is a rabid, momentum-driven,
runaway train (no conductor). But it's not quite the quiet,
representative, blend index that people perceive it to be, either. I
prefer to think of it as blend leaning toward growth.

--
Mark Freeland
nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net

Chris Cowles wrote:
- quote -

It's large cap blend.

Go to morningstar and see the snapshot for IVV (iShares S&P 500 index)
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/ETF...fdtab=snapshot

I'm trying to quantify the asset allocation of my current holdings. Can an
S&P500 index fund that accurately reflects the S&P 500 be characterized
solely as Lg Cap Growth? Or is it a mixture of Growth and Value, if a
distinction is made between those two? Or something else?

Thanks in advance.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL