LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Catherine Yoshimoto, director of product management at FTSE Russell, recently joined the Index Ideas podcast to talk about an expansion of the Russell Indexes framework to cover global equity markets.
The new Russell 9000 Global index builds on the 40-year history of the Russell index series to bring together US, developed ex-US and emerging markets stocks in a single benchmark.
“More than ever, market participants are looking globally for equity investment opportunities,” Yoshimoto says in the podcast.
“Capital is allocated across regions. And benchmarks that consistently reflect the full opportunity set play an increasingly important role.”
“FTSE Russell has designed a representative and investable global equity benchmark using the familiar, trusted Russell framework, with more than $12 trillion in assets benchmarked, building confidence through clarity, consistency and transparency.”
The Russell 9000 Global index follows the same modular design approach as the Russell US Indexes, where a broad 3,000-stock benchmark is divided into a large-cap index of 1,000 stocks (the Russell 1000) and a small-cap index (the Russell 2000).
In the case of the Russell 9000 Global, the extra two building blocks are the Russell 3000 Developed World ex US and the Russell 3000 Emerging.
“The Russell 9000 Global is built using a single, seamless methodology across regions, which helps avoids gaps, overlaps and boundary inconsistencies,” says Yoshimoto.
“By contrast, combining multiple indexes constructed under different methodologies can introduce unintended coverage issues, such as double-counting securities or missing parts of the investable universe.”
Three core building blocks for the Russell 9000 Global
To watch the Index Ideas podcast featuring Catherine Yoshimoto, click here.
There’s no standardisation amongst global equity benchmarks, with popular indices including anywhere between 8,000 and over 10,000 stocks. So why does the Russell 9000 have a constituent count roughly in the middle of that range?
“A 9000-company target captures the vast majority of global investable equity market capitalisation while maintaining liquidity, scalability, and practical investability,” Yoshimoto says.
“This breadth strikes a deliberate balance relative to peer global equity benchmarks, covering neither too many nor too few stocks in the global opportunity set.”
Russell 9000 Global Index: benefits at a glance
In the Russell 9000 Global, companies are ranked by total market capitalisation from largest to smallest as of a rank date and index weights reflect float-adjusted market capitalisation, supporting investability while providing broad and objective representation of the global equity market.
The rebalancing schedule aligns with the existing Russell US indexes’ reconstitution schedule, so the reconstitution for Russell 9000 Global will also occur twice a year, on the fourth Friday of June and the second Friday of December.
To maximise investability, the Russell 9000 Global prioritises American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) when they are more liquid than local listings, while ensuring each company is represented at its true market cap, avoiding double counting.
Russell's methodology also ensures the inclusion of companies that do not have a liquid local listing: that is, firms which may only be investable through ADRs.
According to Yoshimoto, the new global equity benchmark will provide a comprehensive framework for a variety of financial market participants.
“From ETFs to model portfolios, especially for those who already use the Russell US indexes, the Russell 9000 Global helps them move seamlessly into global markets and provides a consistent foundation for global equity investing, supporting benchmarking, asset allocation and portfolio construction,” she says.
Russell 9000 Global Index: a broader, more consistent global framework
| Global policy benchmark alignment (asset owners, active managers) | Product design and ETF innovation | Model portfolio and wealth platform construction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objective | Replace fragmented global benchmarks with a simpler, consistent framework at a lower cost | Build differentiated global equity products | Build consistent global equity exposures across regions, size segments, and client risk profiles |
| How Russell 9000 Global helps | Extends existing Russell US exposure globally Uses a simple, count-based methodology across regions Eliminates benchmark mismatch |
Access to a broad opportunity set with ~9,000 stocks globally Reduce influence of mega-cap concentration Provides modular building blocks (US, Developed ex US, Emerging) |
Provides modular US, Developed World ex US, and Emerging components within one methodology |
| Client benefit | Lower total benchmarking cost for existing Russell US clients Improved governance and transparency More rules-driven consistency and diversified long-term allocation |
Balanced representation compared to traditional global benchmarks Clear and differentiated product positioning Flexible construction for ETFs, models, and SMAs |
Easier model construction, cleaner manager mapping, and consistent portfolio oversight |
To listen to the Index Ideas podcast featuring Catherine Yoshimoto, click here.
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