FTSE Russell, which operates many of the most-followed mid-cap and small-cap stock indexes will rebalance its suite of indexes at the close of trading today. The changes will reflect several broad trends in equity markets over the past year, including the resilience of large-capitalization companies and the dismal performance of smaller U.S. firms.
The dividing line between the large cap index and the small fell this year, from a capitalization of $3.7 billion to $3.6 billion, as a result of the poor performance of small cap companies, which shrunk in average market capitalization from $2.5 trillion to $2.4 trillion. The Russell 2000 small cap index fell 6.3 percent over the past 12 months, versus a 7.5 percent rise in price for larger companies.
Earnings for Russell 2000 small-cap companies fell 14.5 percent in the first quarter of this year on 3.4 percent of sales growth. Equity analysts expect the second quarter will likely show small-cap earnings falling 11.5 percent, on 3.6 percent of revenue growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment