Russell Global Small Cap Index Gains 5.1% for 1st Quarter
25 of 26 U.S. market segments spring ahead in March
 April 2, 2007 — Small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap stocks for the month of March in the U.S. market and globally by a similarly slim margin. The Russell 2000® Index (1.07%) inched past the Russell 1000® Index (1.04%) for the month, while the Russell Global Small Cap Index (2.5%) outpaced the Russell Global Large Cap Index (2.1%).
Both small-cap indexes also led their respective large-cap companions for the first quarter of 2007, but the gap favoring global small caps was wider due to a 5.1% surge for the Russell Global Small Cap Index and 6.9% for the Russell Global ex-U.S. Small Cap Index.
"Global markets rebounded in March as the fear factor from February diminished," said Mark Thurston, head of global equity research with Russell Investment Group. "Investors showed their willingness to take on greater risk by favoring small caps and emerging markets."
The Russell Emerging Markets Index (3.6%) outpaced the Russell Developed Index (2.0%) for March. Among emerging markets, the Russell Latin America Index reflected a 7.3% gain for the month.
The U.S. equity market, as reflected by the Russell 3000® Index, rebounded in March to reflect a 1.04% gain for the month and a positive number for the third consecutive quarter.
While the Russell Top 200® Value Index (1.71%) led Russell's comprehensive family of 26 U.S. indexes for the month of March, the Russell Midcap® Value Index (4.85%) led all others for the first quarter. Only the Russell Microcap® Growth Index (-0.01%) reflected a negative return for the month, while four mega-cap indexes show a slightly negative number for the first quarter.
Looking at U.S. style indexes, value stocks outperformed their growth counterparts at every market capitalization range for the month of March. For the first quarter of 2007, the gap narrowed to a slight value tilt among large caps but showed a wider gap for growth among small caps.
In the Russell 3000, 53% of the stocks turned in a positive return for March. Ten of 12 sectors reflected a positive number for the month, including integrated oils (5.9%) other energy (6.1%) and utilities (3.6%).
In the Russell 1000, four of the top 10 performing stocks for March are in the consumer discretionary sector: Dollar General (25.3%), Gamestop (24.3%), CTC Media (21.7%) and Discovery Holding (19.1%). For the first quarter, though, the materials & processing sector led all others with a 9.9% gain.
In the Russell 2000, four of the top five stocks are in the health care sector: Dendreon (178.7%), Acadia Pharmaceuticals (115.8%), Biosite (58.1%) and Cepheid (49.1%). Even so, the consumer staples sector led all others for the month (7.6%) and first quarter (14.2%). The top-performing stock in the small-cap consumer staples sector for the month was Jones Soda (64.3%).
For additional performance figures on Russell's indexes and the user-friendly Russell index returns calculator, please visit: www.russell.com/Indexes.
| RUSSELL INDEXES TOTAL RETURNS (%) |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
March |
|
YTD |
| Russell 3000® Index |
|
1.04% |
|
1.28% |
| Russell 1000® Index |
|
1.04% |
|
1.21% |
| Russell 2000® Index |
|
1.07% |
|
1.95% |
| Russell 2500™ Index |
|
0.97% |
|
3.55% |
| Russell Midcap® Index |
|
0.80% |
|
4.38% |
| Russell Top 200® Index |
|
1.14% |
|
-0.05% |
| Russell Top 50® Index |
|
1.11% |
|
1.93% |
| Russell Microcap® Index |
|
0.66% |
|
0.93% |
| Russell 3000® Value Index |
|
1.52% |
|
1.26% |
| Russell 3000® Growth Index |
|
0.57% |
|
1.29% |
| Russell 1000® Value Index |
|
1.55% |
|
1.24% |
| Russell 1000® Growth Index |
|
0.54% |
|
1.19% |
| Russell 2000® Value Index |
|
1.21% |
|
1.46% |
| Russell 2000® Growth Index |
|
0.92% |
|
2.48% |
| Russell 2500™ Value Index |
|
1.07% |
|
3.08% |
| Russell 2500™ Growth Index |
|
0.88% |
|
4.03% |
| Russell Midcap® Value Index |
|
1.12% |
|
4.86% |
| Russell Midcap® Growth Index |
|
0.52% |
|
3.96% |
| Russell Top 200® Value Index |
|
1.71% |
|
-0.07% |
| Russell Top 200® Growth Index |
|
0.55% |
|
-0.02% |
| Russell Microcap® Value Index |
|
1.28% |
|
1.18% |
| Russell Microcap® Growth Index |
|
-0.01% |
|
0.65% |
| RUSSELL GLOBAL INDEXES TOTAL RETURNS (%) |
|
|
| |
|
1Q07 |
| Russell Global Index |
|
2.9% |
| Russell Global Large Cap Index |
|
2.6% |
| Russell Global Small Cap Index |
|
5.1% |
| Russell Global ex-US Index |
|
4.1% |
| Russell Global ex-US Large Cap Index |
|
3.7% |
| Russell Global ex-US Small Cap Index |
|
6.9% |
| Russell Developed Index |
|
3.0% |
| Russell Emerging Markets Index |
|
2.0% |
March 2007
SECTOR PERFORMANCE |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Russell 1000 |
|
Russell 2000 |
| Technology |
|
0.37% |
|
1.87% |
| Health Care |
|
0.31% |
|
0.44% |
| Consumer Discretionary & Services |
|
0.12% |
|
1.17% |
| Consumer Staples |
|
2.46% |
|
7.60% |
| Integrated Oils |
|
5.88% |
|
3.01% |
| Other Energy |
|
6.35% |
|
4.02% |
| Materials & Processing |
|
2.01% |
|
1.78% |
| Producer Durables |
|
0.40% |
|
1.73% |
| Autos & Transportation |
|
-0.38% |
|
-0.66% |
| Financial Services |
|
-0.83% |
|
-0.65% |
| Utilities |
|
3.69% |
|
1.54% |
About Russell: Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investing, provides investment products and services in 44 countries. Russell manages more than $200 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide representing more than $2.4 trillion. 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 26 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 more than $3.8 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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