Known as the “Nifty 50,” they were stocks viewed as being the preeminent stocks to own. Siegel wrote about the Nifty 50 stocks in the October 1998 AAII Journal. Most of the former Nifty 50 companies that are no longer publicly traded have been acquired, including Anheuser-Busch, Black & Decker, Gillette and Lubrizol. Among the Nifty 50 members to still be publicly traded, ten are current Dow Jones industrial average components. In total, 22 of the 29 surviving Nifty 50 companies are members of the S&P 500, implying that they remain large-cap stocks.

Source: Forbes May 24, 2019 21:00 UTC