The S&P 500 Is Beating the Dow by Its Biggest Margin Since AprilCONCLUDED[Stock Market News From Jan. 27, 2026: S&P 500 Hits Closing High]Last Updated:---5 hours ago# The S&P 500 Is Beating the Dow by Its Biggest Margin Since AprilBy[Connor Smith]The Dow hasn't underperformed the S&P 500 this badly since April of last year.The blue-chip index was down 450 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P 500 was up nearly 0.5%. The Dow's underperformance is the largest in a single day since April 17, according to Dow Jones Ma ...

Core Viewpoint - The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) had a total return of 14.9% in 2025, underperforming the Nasdaq Composite's 21.1% return, marking the eighth time in the last ten years that the Dow has lagged behind the Nasdaq. There are expectations that the Dow could outperform the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in 2026, which could impact financial portfolios positively, along with recommendations for five dividend stocks within the Dow to consider for investment [1]. Group 1: Dow Performance and Structure - The Dow is composed of just 30 holdings, making it more selective compared to the Nasdaq, which includes thousands of stocks, and the S&P 500, which has around 500 large-cap companies [3]. - The Dow is price-weighted, meaning that its performance is influenced more by the stock prices of its components rather than their market capitalization, unlike the Nasdaq and S&P 500 [4]. - Financial stocks have significantly outperformed, making up 28.3% of the Dow, followed by technology at 20.2% and industrials at 14.7%, contrasting with the tech dominance in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 [5]. Group 2: Growth Focus and Recent Additions - The inclusion of companies like Nvidia, Amazon, and Salesforce has shifted the Dow towards a more growth-stock focus, although these companies underperformed the S&P 500 in 2025 [6]. - Nvidia, while performing well, constitutes only 2.3% of the Dow compared to its larger representation in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, indicating limited influence on the Dow's overall performance [6]. Group 3: Historical Context - The Dow's performance relative to the Nasdaq and S&P 500 has seen significant variation, with 2022 being the most notable year of outperformance, despite the Dow losing value, it did not decline as much as the other indices [9]. - The Dow has only outperformed the Nasdaq in 2016, with close performances in 2017, 2018, and 2021 [9].

Group 1 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a decline, falling 62 points or 0.1%, despite an initial rise of over 100 points [1] - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices showed positive performance, increasing by 0.5% and 0.9% respectively [1] - Among the 30 Dow stocks, only 13 were up, with significant declines in 12 stocks priced over $100, including some exceeding $300 [2] Group 2 - The Dow's index weighting method is based on stock price rather than market capitalization, which may not be the most effective way to balance the index [2]

Group 1 - The German DAX 30 index rose by 0.57%, closing at 23902.13 points, marking a new all-time high [1] - The French stock index experienced a preliminary decline of 0.15% [1] - The Italian stock index saw a preliminary drop of 1.21%, with the banking index falling by 1.12% [1] - The UK stock index had a slight preliminary increase of 0.02% [1] - The Danish stock index increased by 1.47%, while the Copenhagen 25 index rose by 0.45% [1]