Capital Expenditures · S&P 500 (trailing 12 months, $bn)

## What this measures

This measures the total capital expenditure of S&P 500 companies over the trailing twelve months, aggregating quarterly cash purchases of property, plant and equipment reported in SEC filings.

## Background

For each S&P 500 company, cash purchases of property and equipment (us-gaap PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment or PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets) from SEC EDGAR XBRL; quarters are derived from the year-to-date figures filings report, then summed over four quarters. The index value at each calendar quarter end adds each company's trailing-twelve-month figure for the fiscal quarter that ended in those three months. Published once at least 75% of companies that filed the line that quarter have a complete twelve-month record; the count is stored with each point. Financial companies generally don't report this line. Synced weekly by /api/cron/edgar-flows-sync.

## Why it matters

Capital expenditure reflects how much large corporations are investing in long-lived assets, which signals their confidence in future demand and capacity needs. A sustained shift in aggregate capex often precedes changes in hiring, output and the broader investment cycle.

## How to read it

A rising series indicates S&P 500 companies are increasing investment in physical assets; a falling series suggests they are pulling back. Compare the trajectory to revenue growth and prior cycles to assess whether firms are building capacity or conserving cash.

## What it does not say

This does not include spending on intangibles such as software development or acquisitions, nor does it cover companies outside the S&P 500. Financial companies generally do not report this line item and are excluded from the aggregate.

## Source

Palanor reads XBRL filings from SEC EDGAR, a public-domain source. For each company, cash purchases of property and equipment are derived from 10-Q and 10-K statements and summed over four quarters.

## Revision — 2026-09-26

Universe updated to current S&P 500 constituents (8 out, 3 in). Out: Builders FirstSource, Molson Coors and The Trade Desk, which left the index on 21 September 2026; Electronic Arts, which was taken private and left on 5 August 2026; and MongoDB, Cloudflare, Snowflake and Zoom, which were never members and had been included in error since May 2026. In: Bloom Energy, Everpure and Illumina, which joined on 21 September 2026. Membership now comes from a dated constituent list refreshed monthly. The corrected list applies from 26 September 2026. Readings before that date are unchanged.