FTSE Russell is a financial services company owned by the London Stock Exchange Group. The company is a leading provider of global financial product indices, equity market analysis, and data solutions. It is best known for its equity market indices, such as the FTSE 100 Index.
What does FTSE Russell do?
Due to strategic acquisitions made by FTSE Russell, the company offers a variety of products and services. It creates indices and conducts research and analysis for financial professionals, businesses, investors, and academics.
Indices
Indices track the performance of a group of securities. FTSE Russell has over 150 index families that include indices for fixed income, equities, multi-asset, and alternative asset classes.
FTSE Russell’s U.S. indices focus on small, mid, and large-cap companies. The indices include:
- Russell 1000
- Russell 2000
- Russell Top 50 Mega Cap
- Russell Top 500
Its most famous indices are those that include UK companies, such as:
- FTSE 100
- FTSE 100 Total Return Index
- FTSE 100 After Tax Index
- FTSE 250
- FTSE 350
- FTSE All-Share
FTSE Russell has also created indices such as FTSE4Good and the FTSE ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) Index Series, which focus on companies with desirable environmental, social, and governance practices.
Data
FTSE Russell provides access to global financial data on equities, fixed income, corporate actions, sustainability, and mutual funds. The aggregated datasets are sufficient to create indices, methodologies, risk management, compliance, and research across a wide range of global products.
FTSE Russell also owns Mergent and Mergent Online, a leading provider of data and research for academic and professional studies. Their database contains archives of company records and reviews dating back up to 100 years.
What does this mean for individual investors?
If you have an international trading account set up with a broker, you will be able to access most FTSE Russell indices through the London Stock Exchange or other international exchanges. However, individual investors in the U.S. are limited to the products offered by U.S.-based brokers. It may be challenging to invest in stocks listed on FTSE indices or in funds that replicate their performance. However, some brokers provide the opportunity to invest in certain indices.
For example, the Vanguard-managed FTSE Social Index Fund (VFTAX) seeks to track the selected FTSE4Good U.S. Index. Vanguard also has an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the FTSE Global Emerging Markets All Cap Index, which comprises approximately 3,500 stocks from global emerging markets.
You can also choose to invest in FTSE Russell U.S. indices such as the Russell 3000, which consists of U.S. stocks selected by FTSE Russell. Many brokers have mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that track these indices – while they may not be international indices, they are developed by the same company that designed their international counterparts.
Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/ftse-what-is-the-ftse-and-why-it-matters-1979162
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