Difference from S&P

Difference from S&P

A mutual fund's return minus the change in the Standard & Poor's 500 index for the same time period. A notation of -5.00 means the fund return is 5 percentage points less than the gain in the S&P, while 0.00 means that the fund and the S&P have the same return.

Difference from S&P

A measure of how a security or fund performs relative to the market as a whole. It is calculated by taking the percentage change to the S&P 500 and subtracting the percentage change to the security or fund. The S&P is used because it is a very broad, benchmark index. The difference from the S&P can help one determine if a security or fund is cyclical or counter-cyclical.