SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwire) — 02/16/12 — Results from Russell Developed Europe Index reveal that the Financial Services sector led year-to-date sector performance through February 15th, 2012:
With a return of +15.5%, the Financial Services sector led the Russell Developed Europe Index sector performance in 2012, showing the greatest change among sectors from 2011 when it returned (-22.5%).
The other top performing sectors within the Russell Developed Europe Index in 2012 included Consumer Discretionary (+15.3%) and Materials & Processing (+13.6%).
All sectors within the Russell Developed Europe Index showed positive performance in 2012 with the exception of the Utilities sector (-0.2%), reversing the trend from 2011 where six of the nine sectors showed negative performance.
The Healthcare sector, which led in 2011 with a +14.3% return, is near the bottom of the Russell Developed Europe Index sector performance so far in 2012, with a +2.4% return.
“We need to look at recent European market performance, including the financial sector, in context,” said Russell Europe-s head of capital markets John Velis. “The year started out so strongly in large part thanks to the introduction of the European Central Bank-s long-term refinancing operation, which helped lift sentiment for risky assets in general and financial stocks in particular. Last week, doubts arose around the chances that Greece would get a second large aid package from the European Union, and this led to a reversal in sentiment and an uptick in concerns around European banks.”
Opinions expressed by Mr. Velis reflect market performance and observations as of February 15, 2012 and are subject to change at anytime 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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