US equities boost investor confidence
Investorsin the US are set to usher in the new year with a much needed boost from equity markets in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to the latest stock index report from the Frank Russell Company.
All 21 of Russell’s US equity indexes have rallied strongly since the market bottomed in September last year, to record spectacular double digit returns for the quarter, ranging from 14.3 per cent for the Russell Top 200 Value index to 35.7 per cent for the Russell 2000 Growth Index.
The broad-market Russell 2000 index gained 3.3 per cent in the year to the end of December on the back of a 22.1 per cent windfall in the fourth quarter. The more narrow Russell 1000 index declined by 11.8 per cent for the year despite a respectable 11.9 per cent gain since September.
The fourth quarter in the US also saw a return to form for growth oriented stocks, with growth outperforming value at all cap levels. The Russell 1000 Growth, Russell Midcap Growth and Russell 2000 Growth indices returned 16.6, 27.7 and 27.1 per cent respectively over the quarter.
However, value investments continued to maintain a solid lead over growth stocks throughout 2001, with all seven of Russell’s growth indexes remaining deeply in the red over the last 12 months.
The last three months of 2001 were also positive for US tech stocks, which surged 37.4 per cent in the Russell 1000 index and 47.9 per cent in the Russell 2000 index.
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