float market-capitalization-weighted U.S. equity indices published by Russell Investment Group of Tacoma, Washington. The Russell Indices are widely quoted on TV and radio, and in newspapers, and are used as benchmarks for more than $2.5 trillion invested in mutual and pension funds. The company offers a family of 24 U.S. equity indices, all of them subsets of the Russell 3000 Index that measures the performance of the 4,000 largest U.S. companies based on market capitalization, approximately 99% of the U.S. equity market. The stocks in the index have a market capitalization range of approximately $55 million to $387 billion, with a weighted average of $73.8 billion; the median market capitalization is approximately $540 million.
The Russell Small Cap Completeness Index measures the performance of the companies in the Russell 3000 excluding the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. It provides a performance standard for active money managers seeking a liquid extended benchmark, and can be used for a passive investment strategy in the extended market. Weighted average market capitalization is approximately $5.7 billion; median market capitalization, $711.5 million. The index's largest company has a market capitalization of approximately $83.7 billion; the smallest, $182.6 million. Russell offers growth and value indices based on these equity indices. Growth indices measure performance of the respective companies with higher price/book ratio and higher forecasted growth values. Value indices measure the performance of those companies with lower price/book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. The company has licensed Barclays Global Investors the right to create exchange-traded funds based on 13 of the Russell indices. These exchange-traded funds, called " ishares" are managed by Barclays Global Fund Advisors. Russell 2000 Index MITTS, or Market Index Target-Term Securities, reflects the composite performance of the index. The Chicago Board Options Exchange trades futures, options, and e-mini futures on the Russell 2000 Index and futures on the Russell 1000. The New York Board of Trade trades futures (three contract sizes) and options on the Russell 1000 Index, Russell 2000, Russell 2000 Growth, Russell 2000 Value, Russell 1000 Growth, Russell 1000 Value and Russell 2500 indices. Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Pacific Stock Exchange, International Stock Exchange, and AMEX offer options on Russell index-based ishares. Russell also offers indices and related products for the Japanese market with 15 Japan equity indices in association with Nomura Research Institute.www.russell.com.
