Leading exchange-traded fund (ETF) iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV) recently went through a stock split.

Blackrock decided to do a stock split with the iShares S&P 500 ETF – it’s a 15:1 stock split, which is why the unit price has gone from close to $600 to around $40.

The ETF returned to normal trading on a normal settlement basis this week.

I think it’s important to remember that a stock split doesn’t mean investors have more or less invested in the ETF. A $1,200 investment is still worth $1,200 whether it was spread across two units or 30. The pizza has been divided into many more slices, but it’s still the same amount of pizza.

Is the iShares S&P 500 ETF a buy?

Warren Buffett himself has said that (American) investors can do well by just investing in an S&P 500 fund.

I think it’s attractive for a number of different reasons.

For starters, the fund has an extremely low annual management fee of just 0.04%. This means investors can get exposure to the portfolio for almost nothing.

I think it’s a great portfolio. Everyone may have their own thoughts on the US economy, but many of the businesses listed in the US are global powers in their respective industries.

Apple sells its smartphones all over the world. Microsoft’s office software and Xbox consoles have a worldwide user base. Amazon‘s e-commerce is growing, along with its cloud computing service AWS. Alphabet’s Youtube, Google Search and more are used by people worldwide.

There are many other worldwide businesses in the portfolio such as Berkshire Hathaway, Tesla, Johnson & Johnson and Exxon Mobil.

The ETF has produced solid returns over the past three years, despite a large amount of volatility that investors have suffered from because of high inflation and rising interest rates.

In the five years to November 2022, the iShares S&P 500 ETF had returned an average of 13.5% per annum. While past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance, I think it shows the types of returns that the underlying businesses are capable of producing over time.

Foolish takeaway

While the future is uncertain – there’s always uncertainty – I think that the iShares S&P 500 ETF is a leading idea to consider for investors that want to invest in ETFs focused on international shares. The stock split doesn’t really mean anything in terms of how attractive the investment is, but I think it’s compelling as a passive investment option.

The post Is the iShares S&P 500 ETF (IVV) a buy following its stock split? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Is the iShares S&P 500 ETF (IVV) really down 95% today?
• What you need to know about next week’s iShares S&P 500 ETF (IVV) stock split
• 2 ASX ETFs I’d buy right now if I were in my 20s
• 2 high quality ETFs for ASX investors to buy now

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Johnson & Johnson and has recommended the following options: long January 2023 $200 calls on Berkshire Hathaway, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short January 2023 $200 puts on Berkshire Hathaway, short January 2023 $265 calls on Berkshire Hathaway, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and iShares S&p 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Would you like to trade in $10,000 and receive $100,000 in return? It’s a moot question, but can it really be done with ASX 200 shares?

Well, the question shouldn’t be ‘can’. It should be ‘how long will it take?’

Shares are growth assets. Sure, they are volatile, but there has never been a period in the history of the ASX (which has roots that predate Federation, mind you) when the Australian share market has never failed to eclipse a previous all-time high.

Shares go up over time; they always have. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a few wobbles or crashes along the way. But markets rise far further and more often than they fall.

So how long would an investor have to wait for $10,000 to become $100,000?

Turn $10,000 into $100,000 with ASX 200 shares

Well, it depends on a few things. First, the rate of return. Some ASX shares will give better returns than others of course. So for this exercise, we’ll use an index exchange-traded fund (ETF) that covers the entire market. That way, we can get an average return for ASX 200 shares.

The oldest ASX 200 ETF on the share market is the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (ASX: STW), so what better candidate to use? Since its inception in 2001, the SPDR ASX 200 ETF has returned an average of 7.94% per annum, assuming dividends are reinvested. See its share price history below:

So if an investor put $10,000 into shares generating a 7.94% annual return, it would take approximately 29.5 years for that $10,000 to grow 10 times to $100,000.

ETFs are usually ‘maintenance-free’, bottom drawer types of investments, so the only thing this investment requires is time. But near-30 years is a long time to wait.

So what if our investor added an extra $100 per month?

Why then it would only take 19.5 years to reach our $100,000. After 30 years, our lucky investor would have more than $250,000 to their name.

If we upped our monthly contributions to $200 a month, we would cut our time to hit $100k down to 15 years. $500 a month would reduce it again to just under 10 years.

Such is the power of compound interest.

The post Investing in ASX 200 shares could turn your $10,000 into $100,000. Here’s how appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Is the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (STW) an ETF?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price had a tough day on the market today.

BHP shares fell 1.52% to close at $46.08. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) climbed 0.31% today.

Let’s take a look at what impacted the BHP share price today.

What’s going on?

BHP is not the only ASX iron ore share that struggled today. The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price slid 4.21% today, while Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares dropped 1.93%.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) slid 1.4%, making it the worst-performing sector on the market.

BHP, Rio, and Fortescue are all among the top iron ore producers in the world.

Iron ore futures on the Singapore Exchange is down 2.28% to US$106.90 at last look.

The share price of the largest iron ore producer in the world, Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), also dropped 4.19% on the New York Stock Exchange overnight.

Navigate Commodities managing director Atilla Widnell said iron ore at more than $100 a tonne seems “overvalued” currently. In quotes cited by Hellenic Shipping News, Widnell added:

The longer prices persist above this level there’s an increasing likelihood the pricing-floor may start to move higher.

Iron ore futures rallying to close at $111.75/t on Friday is yet another poignant example of just how much heat and overly positive sentiment is currently built in to the current pricing structure.

Macquarie analysts have recently retained an outperform rating on BHP shares with a $50 price target. The team lifted their price target to reflect higher-than-expected iron ore prices.

BHP share price snapshot

The BHP share price has risen 26% in the last year, as shown in the graph below. It is also up by more than 9% in the past month.

BHP has a market capitalisation of about $233 billion.

The post Why did the BHP share price get hammered on Tuesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 2 ASX 200 dividend heavyweights to buy and hold until you retire
• Why is the Fortescue share price tanking on Tuesday?
• Is now really the time to buy ASX 200 shares?
• Top ASX dividend shares to buy in December 2022
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) traded in the green on Tuesday, recovering some of yesterday’s slump. At the end of today’s session, the index was 0.31% higher at 7,203.3 points

Tech shares were among the market’s best performers today, with the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) lifting 1.7%.

It followed a decent night on Wall Street that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) posting a 1.3% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) meanwhile, rose 1.6% and the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) lifted 1.4%.

Banks also posted a good day’s trade today, with the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) gaining 1.4%.

However, the market’s other giants, miners, struggled. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) fell 1.4% on the back of lower commodity prices.

Gold futures prices fell 1% to US$1,792.30 an ounce overnight while iron ore futures slipped 0.9% to US$109.47 a tonne.

All in all, all but one of the ASX 200’s 11 sectors closed higher. But which stock outperformed all its peers to post today’s biggest gain? Keep reading to find out.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

Today’s top-performing ASX 200 share was Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) – lifting 6.9%.

Its gains come on the back of a positive trading update, detailing a 22% jump in cash earnings.

Today’s biggest gains were made by these shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN)	$9.66	6.86%
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)	$7.12	5.95%
Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU)	$0.195	5.41%
Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF)	$7.67	4.64%
Nanosonics Ltd (ASX: NAN)	$4.55	4.36%
Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX)	$6.99	4.33%
Kelsian Group Ltd (ASX: KLS)	$5.67	4.04%
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)	$14.76	3.87%
Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (ASX: SIQ)	$5	3.52%
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)	$72.98	3.33%

Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• How I’d try to make $1 million by investing $5 a day in ASX 200 shares
• Why Bendigo Bank, Block, Megaport, and Starpharma shares are rising today
• The Macquarie dividend is being divvied out today. Here’s the lowdown
• Bendigo Bank share price surges 7% on earnings boost

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Megaport, Nanosonics, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bendigo And Adelaide Bank, Nanosonics, Smartgroup, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Challenger, Corporate Travel Management, and Megaport. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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