Developed market index returns

The growing proliferation of indexes from index providers, along with a corresponding growing number of index funds and ETFs, creates a number of issues for investors, since the index returns of the different providers result in a dispersion of both yearly and multi-period returns. These return differences are mainly due to the differing methodologies index providers utilize in constructing their indexes. Different benchmarks cover varying ranges of stocks, have different selection criteria for growth versus value, and are even maintained and rebalanced differently.

Developed market index returns
The most frequently used benchmark for International Developed Market stocks is the MSCI EAFE index, which dates from 1970 to the present day. From the beginning of the twenty first century, other major index providers introduced international indexes.

Indexes: FTSE Developed ex-North America Index; Morningstar Developed ex-U.S. Index; MSCI EAFE Index; Russell Developed ex-U.S. Index; S&P Developed ex-U.S. Index


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 * + Country Representation (2010)
 * align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|FTSE
 * align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Morningstar
 * align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"| MSCI
 * align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Russell
 * align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|S&P
 * - valign="top"
 * - valign="top"


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 * Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Ireland Israel Italy Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Singapore South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom


 * Australia Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Ireland Israel Italy Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom


 * Australia Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom


 * Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Singapore South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
 * }

Provider links

 * Dow Jones Indexes
 * FTSE
 * Morningstar
 * MSCI
 * Russell Indexes
 * Standard & Poors

Methodology

 * Dow Jones
 * FTSE
 * Morningstar
 * MSCI
 * Russell
 * S&P

Papers

 * Evaluating global benchmarks Vanguard Research, (September 15, 2010)