Before buying U.S. stock ETFs, understand these key indices first.

I. S&P 500 Index: The 'Top 500' of U.S. Equities It uses a market-capitalization weighting methodology—i.e., the larger the company, the higher its weight in the index. Consequently, as major U.S. tech giants have surged over recent years, the technology sector’s weight within the S&P 500 has steadily increased. Popular ETFs such as VOO, SPY, and IVV all track the S&P 500. II. U.S. Total Market Index: Not Just the Giants The S&P 500 covers primarily large-cap companies—but the U.S. stock market comprises far more than just 500 listed firms. Hence, another category exists: the U.S. Total Market Index. For example, VTI tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, which casts a much broader net than the S&P 500—spanning mega-cap titans like Apple and Microsoft all the way down to mid-, small-, and even micro-cap companies. You can think of the two indices this way: the S&P 500 represents the 'Top 500' of the U.S. equity market; the U.S. Total Market Index, by contrast, aims to capture the entire U.S. stock market in a single package. However, because the total market index also employs market-cap weighting, although it includes vastly more stocks, the performance of the index remains predominantly driven by the largest companies. That is why VTI and VOO typically exhibit very similar long-term price movements. At first glance, one holds ~500 stocks while the other holds several thousand—but due to the extremely low weights assigned to smaller and mid-sized firms, the practical difference between the two is far less dramatic than their constituent counts might suggest. III. Nasdaq Composite Index: The 'Nasdaq' You Hear About Daily in Financial News When watching financial news, you often hear: “Last night, the three major U.S. indices diverged—Dow rose, S&P fell, Nasdaq rose…” Here, “Nasdaq” usually refers to the Nasdaq Composite Index. It covers nearly all common stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market—so it includes a large number of companies, with relatively high representation from technology, biopharmaceuticals, and new-economy sectors. As a result, the Nasdaq Composite has long been perceived as a ‘technology index.’ Strictly speaking, however, it is not a pure tech index—it simply happens that so many tech firms list on Nasdaq that its performance strongly correlates with the technology and growth sectors. It functions more as a broad market barometer. In practice, however, retail investors tend to buy ETFs tracking a different index—the Nasdaq-100. IV. Nasdaq-100 Index: The Real Benchmark Behind QQQ The Nasdaq-100 Index consists of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. QQQ tracks precisely this index. A very common misconception is that **QQQ is not the 'U.S. Tech 100.'** While the Nasdaq-100 does include many tech firms, it also encompasses consumer-oriented companies such as Amazon, Costco, and Starbucks—as well as healthcare and communication services firms. Thus, a more accurate characterization is: **The Nasdaq-100 represents large-cap U.S. growth and innovative companies.** Its key distinction from the S&P 500 is not merely 'tech vs. non-tech.' The S&P 500 offers broader sector representation, with significant weightings across financials, industrials, energy, and healthcare. By contrast, the Nasdaq-100 explicitly excludes financial firms—and, owing to Nasdaq’s listing structure, naturally tilts toward technology and growth-oriented businesses.

Nasdaq-100 Index and Opportunities for Chinese Investors

• Exchange Restriction: Only companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market qualify—regardless of size, firms listed on the NYSE (e.g., Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase) are excluded. • Financial Sector Exclusion: Banks, insurers, brokerages, and other financial stocks are deliberately excluded. These two screening rules inherently tilt the Nasdaq-100 toward technology, internet, biotech, and consumer growth stocks. As of 2026, information technology accounts for approximately 56–60% of the index’s weight, communication services about 15%, and consumer discretionary roughly 13%—together comprising over 85% of the index. By comparison, the S&P 500’s information technology weight stands at only around 35%. Below is a chart showing the Nasdaq-100’s top 10 holdings: The Nasdaq-100 employs a modified market-cap weighting methodology—i.e., a standard market-cap weighting scheme supplemented by anti-concentration caps. When a few mega-cap stocks’ weights become excessively high, rebalancing is triggered to constrain them. Even so, given the sheer scale of its top-tier companies, the current combined weight of the top 10 constituents stands at roughly 55–60%, significantly exceeding the corresponding figure for the S&P 500. As of 2026, the Nasdaq-100’s top 10 holdings typically include Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet (Google’s parent company—with Class A and Class C shares counted separately), Broadcom, Tesla, Costco, and Netflix. This structural concentration—where a handful of giants dominate—is an inherent feature of the Nasdaq-100: it delivers explosive upside during tech bull markets, but also carries heightened risk—should tech stocks correct, the index’s drawdown will substantially exceed that of the S&P 500. Notably, the Nasdaq-100 and the Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ Composite, ticker: IXIC) are two distinct benchmarks. The Composite Index includes all ~3,000+ stocks listed on Nasdaq—including financials—and thus offers broader coverage but greater dispersion and volatility. The Nasdaq-100, by contrast, selects only the 100 largest non-financial large-cap stocks from that universe. Virtually all QDII funds available to domestic Chinese investors track the Nasdaq-100—not the Composite Index—since no investable products currently exist for the latter. Note: Unless otherwise specified, references to 'Nasdaq-100' or 'Nasdaq' in this article refer specifically to the Nasdaq-100 Index. Historical Performance and Long-Term Value Historically, the Nasdaq-100 has delivered significantly higher long-term returns than the S&P 500—but at the cost of greater volatility and deeper drawdowns. Since its inception in 1985, the Nasdaq-100’s annualized return (including dividend reinvestment) has averaged approximately 13–14%, versus roughly 10% for the S&P 500 over the same period. Though this gap appears modest—just 3–4 percentage points—the power of compounding over 40 years transforms $1 invested in the Nasdaq-100 into ~$160, while the same $1 in the S&P 500 grows to only ~$52. This illustrates the extraordinary impact of compounding—and explains why the Nasdaq-100 is widely regarded as a premier high-growth investment vehicle. Yet its return path is anything but smooth. Key drawdown episodes include: • Dot-com Bubble (2000): Nasdaq-100 plunged ~83% from peak to trough (QQQ fell from 101 to 16.7), far exceeding the S&P 500’s ~50% decline. It took approximately 15 years—until 2015—for the Nasdaq-100 to fully recover; the S&P 500, by contrast, required only about 7 years. • Global Financial Crisis (2008): Nasdaq-100 declined ~54%, broadly in line with the S&P 500. • COVID-19 Pandemic (2020): Short-term drawdown of ~28%, yet rebounded fastest—benefiting from strong tech-sector tailwinds. • 2022 Interest-Rate Hiking Cycle: Nasdaq-100 dropped ~35%, versus ~25% for the S&P 500.

Is DuPont de Nemours Stock Outperforming the Nasdaq?

Jun 10, 2026

DuPont de Nemours stock outperformed the Nasdaq with 17.1% YTD gains, driven by Q1 net sales up 4.3% and adjusted EPS rising 52.8%. Analysts maintain a "Strong Buy" rating with a 20.1% upside potential.