Russell realigns global indexes to recession's realities Annual process adds 1,101 stocks to the comprehensive benchmark Tacoma, WA — June 29, 2009 — Russell Investments has completed the annual reconstitution of its global indexes, and the newly configured benchmarks show a dramatic downward shift worldwide in terms of market capitalization. With approximately 10,300 stocks from 65 countries, the Russell Global Index shows a total market capitalization of US$34.9 trillion, which is 35% lower than the market capitalization at this time last year. "Even in the aftermath of a tumultuous market environment, Russell's index reconstitution process routinely captured the new reality for every sector and market segment worldwide," said Steve Wood, chief market strategist for Russell. "The process shows the recession was felt pretty evenly in markets around the world." Some disparity did appear though as some countries increased in weighting within the global index, particularly Japan, China, Russia, Chile and South Africa. Others saw their relative weight decrease, such as France, Germany, India, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Altogether, Russell restocked the global index with 1,101 newly-added companies worldwide from 59 countries. The United States ranked on top with 278 additions, while Asia accounted for six of the top10 countries with the highest number of additions, including Japan (110), Korea (55), Taiwan (53), India (50) Hong Kong (48) and China (38). Addition to the Russell Global Index means automatic inclusion into several sub-component indexes. For example, a small-cap stock in China also is added to the Russell Emerging Markets Index, Russell Asia Index, Russell Asia Pacific Index and Russell Global Small Cap Index, among others, as well as the related value or growth style indexes. "The annual index reconstitution process is an essential part of providing truly representative equity benchmarks for investors who want to better gauge the performance of their stock portfolios or retirement plans," said Wood. Of the 1,101 additions, 257 stocks are in the financial services sector, 151 in the materials & processing sector and 148 in the consumer discretionary sector. The new members include only 14 initial public offerings that came to market during the second quarter, which is far fewer than the 47 added a year ago. The Russell Global Index, which covers 98% of the investable global market, currently has a market-capitalization range of US$348 billion (PetroChina) to US$78 million (U.S.-based PowerSecure International.) The median market capitalization dropped from last year's US$32 billion to US$20.5 billion. Five countries that previously were part of the global index no longer are eligible as of this year's reconstitution process due to risk scores or no securities there qualify for membership: Pakistan, Ukraine, Vietnam, Latvia and the Slovak Republic. Russell's innovative index design—including annual reconstitution, float-adjusted market capitalization, multi-factor style analysis, and objective and transparent rules—continues to grow in industry usage, and Russell benchmarks now account for 63.3% of institutional U.S. equity products. Altogether, Russell's industry-leading indexes account for about $4 trillion in assets benchmarked. About Russell Russell Investments provides strategic advice, world-class implementation, state-of-the-art performance benchmarks and a range of institutional-quality investment products. Russell has more than $136 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2009, and serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Contact: Steve Claiborne: 253-439-1858 Russell Investments is the owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to its indexes. Russell's indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly. CORP-5773			Printer friendly version of this page

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