S&P’s SpaceX Snub Shows Elon Musk the Power of Index Gatekeepers

Elon Musk once said passive investing has “gone too far,” mocked environmental, social and governance indexes as a “scam” and endured a long wait to get Tesla Inc. into the S&P 500.

Now the world’s most powerful benchmark provider has handed him a fresh grievance — and a reminder that some of Wall Street’s most consequential decisions are made by the index overlords.

S&P Dow Jones Indices on Thursday rejected proposals that would have created a faster path into the S&P 500 for giant newly public companies, preserving a 12-month waiting period that will keep ...