Spiders

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Shares in a trust that owns stocks in the same proportion as the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. Spiders, also known as Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, sell for a dollar amount equal to about one-tenth of the Standard & Poor's 500 index level.

Considering how general is the dislike of spiders, they feature often and have mainly a positive reputation in English lore. The belief that it is unlucky to kill a spider is generally reported: ‘… If you are sweeping, and come on a web, don't destroy it till the spider is safe, when you may sweep away the web; but if you kill the spider it will surely bring poverty to your house’, (Isle of Wright: N&Q 12s:3 (1917), 396). It is still considered lucky if a small spider alights on you, and these are thus generally called ‘money-spiders’ or ‘money-spinners’. To ensure good luck, some believe you must throw the spider over your left shoulder, or, more elaborately, hold the thread by which it is hanging, pass it (and spider) three times round your head, and place the spider back where you found it (N&Q 5s:12 (1879), 229, 254, 277, 295, 518).

One legend which seeks to explain our regard for spiders tells that on the flight into Egypt, when the Holy Family took shelter in a cave, a spider quickly spun its web across the mouth, and a dove laid an egg in the web. The pursuing soldiers thus concluded that the cave had been unused for some time and neglected to search it. This tale has numerous international parallels and is also told of King David and of Mahomet. A different story relates how the spider spun a beautiful web over Christ's manger in the stable (N&Q 169 (1935), 460; 170 (1936) 50, 212, 266, 303; Radford, Radford, and Hole, 1961: 317-18; Henderson, 1879: 312).

Spiders do not fare so well in the realm of folk medicine, as the cure usually results in their death one way or another. A longstanding cure for ague or fever was to imprison a spider, often in a nut-shell, which would be worn as an amulet—Pliny (Natural History (AD 77), xxx) includes this cure, and English writers since at least the 16th century have also recommended it. Similar methods were used for whooping cough. Other cures involve eating the spider, for example as a cure for ague, taken with a spoonful of jam (N&Q 151 (1926), 404). Cobwebs were believed to have medicinal value in themselves. Mixed with bread and made into pills, they were another recommended remedy for the ague at least since the 17th century (N&Q 10s:1 (1904), 205, 273-4, 317-18). There are many who still believe that cobwebs slapped on a wound stop the bleeding.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Opie and Tatem, 1989: 368-72
• Black, 1883: 58-61
• Lean, 1902: ii) (numerous references, the index in vol. iv is incorrect, referring to vol. i instead of vol. ii)

A short form of Standard & Poor's depositary receipt, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) managed by State Street Global Advisors that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). Each share of spider contains one-tenth of the S&P index and trades at roughly one-tenth of the dollar-value level of the S&P 500. Spiders can also refer to the general group of ETFs to which the Standard & Poor's depositary receipt belongs.

Investopedia Says:
Spiders are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the acquisition of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) under the ticker symbol SPY. By trading like stocks, spiders have continuous liquidity, can be short sold, bought on margin, provide regular dividend payments and incur regular brokerage commissions when traded. 

Spiders are used by large institutions and traders as bets on the overall direction of the market. They are also used by individual investors who believe in passive management (index investing). In this respect, spiders compete directly with S&P 500 index funds.

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