SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwire) — 01/06/12 — The Russell Europe Defensive Index reflected an annual return of +0.5% in 2011, outperforming both its dynamic counterpart, the Russell Europe Dynamic Index, which posted a loss of (-22.2%) for 2011, and the broad Russell Europe Index, which lost (-9.6%) in 2011.
The Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors were the top performers among constituents within the Russell Europe Defensive Index, with returns of +14.8% and +9.3%, respectively, in 2011.
The Materials & Processing and Financial Services sectors were the bottom performers among constituents within the Russell Europe Dynamic Index, with returns of (-26.3%) and (-27.5%), respectively, in 2011.
“In these volatile markets where investment performance can be driven by portfolio positioning, investors can benefit from benchmarks that provide a more nuanced look at the markets,” said Gareth Parker, director of research, innovation and product development for Russell Indexes in Europe. “The Russell Global Stability Indexes illustrate that understanding the impact of defensive and dynamic factors is important to understanding differential performance within markets and sectors, and to selecting stocks to hold within those markets and sectors.”
The Russell Defensive & Dynamic Indexes split the broad global equity market in half based on a combination of stability factors; the more stable half is called “Defensive” and the less stable half is called “Dynamic.” The new Russell Global Defensive and Dynamic Indexes follow the same global-relative composition as the Russell Global Indexes. Stocks are ranked by sector and style across regions, rather than country-by-country, to better reflect how investors now approach the global markets.
Opinions expressed by Mr. Parker reflect market performance and observations as of January 5th, 2012 and are subject to change at any time based on market or other conditions without notice. Please remember that past performance does not guarantee future performance.
The Russell Global Index includes more than 10,000 securities in 48 countries and covers 98% of the investable global market. All securities in the index are classified according to size, region, country and sector. Daily Returns for the main components are available here:
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