Russell 3000 Gains 4% For April, Hits All-Time High
Investors show broad-based optimism for stocks globally
 May 1, 2007 — The broad-market Russell 3000® Index reflected a gain of 4% for April, while the Russell Global Index fared even better with a 4.9% increase for the month. The Russell 3000, which hit an all-time high valuation near the end of April, now shows a year-to-date gain of 5.3%.
"No matter where you look-small caps, large caps, value, growth, emerging markets, developed-investors showed broad optimism for stocks in April," said Dennis Jensen, senior research analyst at Russell. "After some earlier scares this year, the numbers for April show greater confidence for market growth."
The recent record level for the Russell 3000, Jensen added, looks quite different from the previous high point in the March of 2000. "The P/E ratio of 30.7 back in 2000 definitely didn't look as favorable as the current ratio of 17.8," he said. "This time the record valuation is accompanied by an attractive P/E."
Large-cap stocks slightly outperformed small-cap stocks for the month in the U.S. market and globally, even though small caps retain a year-to-date lead in both investment arenas. The Russell Global Large Cap Index (5.1%) led the Russell Global Small Cap Index (4.4%), while the large-cap Russell 1000® Index (4.2%) outperformed the Russell 2000® Index (3.8%).
Looking at the world in a different way, the Russell Emerging Markets Index (5.7%) outpaced the Russell Developed Index (4.9%) for April. Among emerging market benchmarks, the Russell Latin America Index reflected a 7.3% gain for the month.
In the U.S. market, the Russell Top 200® Growth Index (4.9%) led Russell's comprehensive family of U.S. indexes for the month of April, but the Russell Midcap® Growth Index holds the lead year-to-date with a gain of 8.5% through the end of April. By contrast, the Russell Microcap® Value Index reflected the smallest gain for the month (0.7%) and remains in the cellar year-to-date (1.9%).
Looking at U.S. style indexes, in a complete reversal from March, growth stocks outperformed their value counterparts at every market capitalization range for April. Year-to-date figures show the Russell 3000® Growth Index (5.9%) now holds a year-to-date lead over the Russell 3000® Value Index (4.8%).
In the Russell 3000, 60% of the stocks turned in a positive return for April. All 12 sectors reflected a positive number for the month, including energy services (6.6%), health care (6.2%) and technology (5.4%). Six of the top-performing stocks are in the health care sector and two are in the consumer discretionary sector: Amazon.com (54.1%) and Global Imaging Systems (48.2%).
In the Russell 1000, energy services (6.8%) and health care (6.5%) also led for April, while the year-to-date numbers show energy services (17%), materials & processing (13%) and utilities (9.4%) ahead of health care (8%). The top-performing stock in this index for the month is Medimmune (55.8%).
For additional performance figures on Russell's indexes and the user-friendly Russell index returns calculator, please visit: www.russell.com/Indexes.
| RUSSELL U.S. INDEXES TOTAL RETURNS |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
April |
|
YTD through April 30 |
| Russell 3000® Index |
|
3.99% |
|
5.32% |
| Russell 1000® Index |
|
4.20% |
|
5.47% |
| Russell 2000® Index |
|
1.80% |
|
3.78% |
| Russell 2500™ Index |
|
2.58% |
|
6.22% |
| Russell Midcap® Index |
|
3.81% |
|
8.35% |
| Russell Top 200® Index |
|
4.37% |
|
4.32% |
| Russell Top 50® Index |
|
4.74% |
|
2.72% |
| Russell Microcap® Index |
|
1.46% |
|
2.40% |
| Russell 3000® Value Index |
|
3.45% |
|
4.76% |
| Russell 3000® Growth Index |
|
4.53% |
|
5.89% |
| Russell 1000® Value Index |
|
3.70% |
|
4.98% |
| Russell 1000® Growth Index |
|
4.71% |
|
5.95% |
| Russell 2000® Value Index |
|
1.04% |
|
2.51% |
| Russell 2000® Growth Index |
|
2.62% |
|
5.16% |
| Russell 2500™ Value Index |
|
2.09% |
|
5.24% |
| Russell 2500™ Growth Index |
|
3.07% |
|
7.23% |
| Russell Midcap® Value Index |
|
3.14% |
|
8.15% |
| Russell Midcap® Growth Index |
|
4.39% |
|
8.52% |
| Russell Top 200® Value Index |
|
3.91% |
|
3.84% |
| Russell Top 200® Growth Index |
|
4.85% |
|
4.83% |
| Russell Microcap® Value Index |
|
0.66% |
|
1.85% |
| Russell Microcap® Growth Index |
|
2.31% |
|
2.98% |
| RUSSELL GLOBAL INDEXES TOTAL RETURNS |
|
|
| |
|
April |
| Russell Global Index |
|
4.9% |
| Russell Global Large Cap Index |
|
5.0% |
| Russell Global Small Cap Index |
|
4.4% |
| Russell Global ex-US Index |
|
4.9% |
| Russell Global ex-US Large Cap Index |
|
5.0% |
| Russell Global ex-US Small Cap Index |
|
4.8% |
| Russell Developed Index |
|
4.9% |
| Russell Emerging Markets Index |
|
5.7% |
Russell 3000 Index
SECTOR PERFORMANCE |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
April |
|
YTD through April 30 |
| Technology |
|
5.43% |
|
4.76% |
| Health Care |
|
6.19% |
|
7.64% |
| Consumer Discretionary & Services |
|
2.02% |
|
4.35% |
| Consumer Staples |
|
3.22% |
|
5.43% |
| Integrated Oils |
|
4.36% |
|
3.96% |
| Other Energy |
|
6.61% |
|
15.71% |
| Materials & Processing |
|
3.08% |
|
12.69% |
| Producer Durables |
|
4.33% |
|
6.96% |
| Autos & Transportation |
|
3.85% |
|
7.50% |
| Financial Services |
|
3.37% |
|
0.99% |
| Utilities |
|
2.43% |
|
9.06% |
About Russell: Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investing, provides investment products and services in 44 countries. Founded in 1936, Russell is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Auckland and Tokyo.
Russell's comprehensive family of global equity indexes, including the industry-leading Russell U.S. indexes, allow investors to seamlessly track performance of distinct market segments worldwide without gaps or overlaps. Russell's index story began in 1984 when the multi-manager investment firm launched its family of U.S. indexes to accurately measure U.S. market segments and better track investment manager behavior. The resulting index methodology produced the broad-market Russell 3000 and popular subcomponents such as the small-cap Russell 2000. Together, Russell's U.S. indexes have become the most widely used benchmarks by institutional investors and today about $4 trillion in assets are benchmarked to these U.S. indexes. In January 2007, Russell applied the same pioneering index methodology to the world's equity markets to create the Russell Global Index and hundreds of subcomponent global indexes. Similar to how the Russell 3000 captures 98% of the investable U.S. equity market, the Russell Global Index captures 98% of the investable global equity market. The Russell Global Index, which reflects the performance of about 10,000 stocks in 63 countries, includes the Russell 3000 as its U.S. subcomponent and 300 other distinct subcomponents that are segmented according to size, region, country and sector.
Contacts:
Steve Claiborne, 253-439-1858
Russell Investment Group, a Washington, USA corporation, operates through subsidiaries worldwide. Russell Investment Group is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Russell Investment Group 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.
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