Articles & commentary Learn more about the indexes from Russell experts Russell's heritage is in money manager research. Today, more than 400 employees are dedicated to researching investment products and money managers. Our worldwide presence and leadership in indexes place us in a unique position of insight into the world of indexes. Monthly commentary Microcaps shine in July The U.S. broad-market Russell 3000® Index reflected a slight decline for the month of July while two sectors in the index traded places as the best and worst performing. Russell Global Index reflects 2.5% downturn for July The Russell Global Index reflected a decline of 2.5% for the month of July — and a year-to-date decline of 12.9% — as emerging markets underperformed developed markets across the world. Global stocks fall 8.3% in June The U.S. broad-market Russell 3000® Index and the Russell Global Index each reflected a decline of 8.3% for the month of June — the worst month for the U.S. broad market since September of 2002 — and both benchmarks showed double-digit losses for the first half of 2008. U.S. stocks gain again in May The U.S. broad-market Russell 3000® Index reflected its second consecutive positive month with a 2.1% increase for May. Feature articles ETFs make a splash James Guilfoil, CFP® The explosive growth of exchange-traded funds may tempt investors to brave this new category, but buyers should educate themselves before jumping into the ETF pool. Capitalization banding: Russell index reconstitution 2007 Rolf Agather and Sarah McCarthy Russell's new capitalization banding methodology significantly reduces turnover in its indexes without sacrificing their ability to represent the market. Market index change: why it creates better measures Kelly Haughton, Strategic Director of the Russell Indexes Market indexes should anticipate and recognize the changes happening over time, which means as countries and companies become available for global investment they should be reflected in market indexes. Large cap and small cap in the global market Russell redefines global indexes by using a global-relative definition to capitalization size. Our analysis shows that the global definition of company size most effectively distinguishes large and small cap companies. Russell Research: price pressure at Russell index reconstitution (PDF) David R. Carino and Mahesh Pritamani Russell Research analysts examine the effect of the temporary price-pressure effect of reconstitution. Results show that the effect of reconstitution on stock prices is diminishing. Measuring U.S. equity manager performance: benchmarks and weighting Kelly Haughton, Strategic Director of the Russell Indexes Determining the market's performance requires an accurate, objective assessment of the market's make-up. That's why savvy investors select a reliable index to serve as a benchmark for performance analysis. White papers and research It's all a matter of perspective The issue of perspective is brought to the forefront when discussing the differences between large cap and small cap stocks. By using a consistent methodology to determine capitalization sectors, we are able to provide a globally consistent definition of large cap and small cap stocks across all countries. The changing global capital markets (PDF) Kelly Haughton, Noriyuki Oharazawa, Pradeep Velvadapu, and Xin Yan, Russell Investments Emerging market countries are growing strongly and increasing their share of global equity markets. The development of these countries' capital markets could influence retirement security. Baby boomers are reaching age 65 at the rate of 10,000 per day. As boomers fund their retirement, they may find themselves dependent on growth in these countries for financial security. The Russell Microcap Index (PDF) Steve Swartley, Russell Research Analyst This Index will provide an objective benchmark for the smallest 2,000 companies in the U.S. equity market. Assessing the bias against the largest cap stocks by institutional managers (PDF) Dennis Trittin, Russell Portfolio Manager Examining investment in top 50 stocks. U.S. Equity Style Methodology (PDF) Kelly Haughton and Mahesh Pritamani Based on the criteria of respresentativeness and turnover, we evaluated Russell's style indexes over the period July 1994 to June 2004. We found that over this time, Russell's style indexes represented manager universes more effectively than MSCI's style indexes at lower turnover levels. Further, we concluded that Russell's style methodolgy continues to perform well in providing appropriate benchmarks for mangers of differing styles.			Printer friendly version of this page

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