SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwire) — 04/18/12 — Year-to-date performance for the constituents of the Russell Developed Europe Index through April 13th, 2012:
Spain (-13.8%), Portugal (-4.8%) and Italy (-3.1%) were at the bottom of the Russell Developed Europe Index — three of only four countries in the Index with negative performance for 2012 year-to-date as of April 13th.
Greece continued to stage a comeback, with a +11.7% return year-to-date as of April 13th, near the top of Eurozone country performance this year despite being the worst performing country within the Index in 2011 (-55.2%).
The top five countries within the index year-to-date were Denmark (+18.2%), Ireland (+12.7%), Germany (+12.3%), Belgium (+12.1%) and Greece (+11.7%).
The UK has returned (+6.9%) year-to-date, placing it 9th out of 18 countries within the index.
“Spanish equities haven-t fared well over the first part of this year, far worse than the other countries in the Russell Developed Europe Index. This is quite different to what we saw in 2011, when Spain actually outperformed Germany despite the news headlines favouring Northern Europe,” said Ronnie Sabel, portfolio manager of European multi-manager funds at Russell Investments.
“Many European countries have clawed back most of the losses of 2011 so far this year — and even Greek equities have showed a positive year-to-date return of nearly 12%. But the huge differences we see amongst the developed European markets shows how volatile and unpredictable they can be.”
Opinions expressed by Mr. Sabel reflect market performance and observations as of April 13, 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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