Russell Expands Defensive and Dynamic Indexes to Global Markets

In light of the continued market volatility, Russell Indexes is expanding its Defensive and Dynamic Indexes to cover all 10,000 stocks that it tracks around the world.

“Russell has expanded the scope of our Defensive and Dynamic Indexes in response to increased interest from investors in applying our new methodology to a broader set of stocks and markets in a more defensive way,” said Rolf Agather, global director of research and innovation for Russell Indexes.

Russell first expanded its index offerings with capitalization-weighted indexes and then multi-factor growth and value style indexes.

The company introduced its Defensive and Dynamic Indexes earlier this year to help investors also consider quality and volatility along with stock prices. The index splits the market into “defensive,” or stable stocks, and “dynamic,” or riskier stocks.

“The modern global markets are quite interconnected and highly volatile,” said Russell Research Director Abigail Huffman. “With market volatility at record highs, our Defensive Index returns in particular have shown that a new approach to style investing may be beneficial.”

Recent Russell research challenges traditional market approaches to risk and return by showing that a smart defensive approach can outperform other investment styles and the broad market at large during volatile or declining periods.

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