Real Returns Since 2000: SPY, DIA and QQQ Through April 2026

Through the April 2026 close, $1,000 invested at the market peaks around 2000 grew, after inflation, to $3,813 for SPY, $3,753 for DIA and $3,547 for QQQ. Those amounts correspond to real compound annual growth rates of 5.26% for SPY, 5.15% for DIA and 4.96% for QQQ.

The calculations use the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers to adjust purchasing power. ETF total returns assume dividend reinvestment and are then inflation-adjusted to report real value. Investment start dates reflect each index’s 2000 peak: March 2000 for SPY and QQQ, and January 2000 for DIA.

Month-over-month performance through April shows nominal gains from March of 10.4% for the S&P 500, 7.1% for the Dow 30 and 15.3% for the Nasdaq on a price basis. After adjusting for inflation, those monthly gains become 9.3% for the S&P 500, 6.0% for the Dow and 14.1% for the Nasdaq.

Longer-term patterns divide the period into two parts. The first 15 years of the 21st century produced weak returns for equities. Over the most recent 10-year span, each index rose substantially in real terms: about 142% for the S&P 500, 117% for the Dow and 153% for the Nasdaq.

Index construction and weighting account for part of the different outcomes. SPY tracks the S&P 500, a market-cap-weighted index of roughly 500 large U.S. companies across 11 sectors. QQQ follows the Nasdaq-100, a market-cap-weighted group concentrated in technology and growth stocks. DIA tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a 30-stock index weighted by share price rather than market capitalization, which makes it more concentrated and sensitive to individual stock price moves.

All figures in this report are based on market closes through April 2026 and reflect total-return ETF performance adjusted to real purchasing power using CPI-U. Charts accompanying the data present both nominal price overlays and inflation-adjusted series to illustrate those results.