Russell 2000 Index: The Original Benchmark For U.S. Small Caps
FTSE Russell·2026-05-25·via All Articles on Seeking Alpha
Summary
Since its launch in 1984, the Russell 2000 has provided a consistent and comprehensive record of the US equity market’s small company segment.
Historic US stock market performance data collected by French show that small US companies outperformed their larger counterparts by 2.5 percent a year, on average, between 1927 and 2025.
The Russell US indexes follow a modular construction approach, covering market segments (large, mid and small cap) and investment styles (growth vs. value and defensive vs. dynamic).
The Russell 2000 provides more concentrated exposure to the domestic US economy than its large-cap counterpart, the Russell 1000.
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By Catherine Yoshimoto, Director, Product Management
Overview
In recent years, media and analyst coverage of the US equity market has focused on the remarkable performance of a handful of mega-cap stocks. But could companies at the other end of