what is the russell 1000 index 
the russell 1000 index is a stock market index used as a benchmark by investors it is a subset of the larger russell 3000 index and represents the 1 000 top companies by market capitalization in the united states the russell 1000 is owned and operated by ftse russell and based in the united kingdom the index is considered a bellwether index for large cap investing understanding the russell 1000 indexthe russell 1000 was launched on jan 1 1984 by ftse russell which also manages the russell 3000 and russell 2000 a subset of the russell 3000 index the russell 1000 is market capitalization weighted where the largest companies constitute the largest percentages in the index and will affect performance more than the smallest index members 1the index consists of approximately 93 of the total market capitalization of all listed stocks in the u s equity market its components are reconstituted after the fourth friday in june every year 2top holdings of the russell 1000 indexto determine the holdings of the russell 1000 the company ranks all of the stocks included in the russell 3000 by market capitalization and identifies the market cap breakpoint of the 1 000th stock ranking 3this breakpoint is the primary market capitalization used to determine index eligibility many stocks are swapped between the russell 1000 and russell 2000 at the annual reconstitution however variation around the market cap breakpoint is the determining factor 3as of may 31 2024 the top 10 russell 1000 index constituents are performance of the russell 1000 indexperformance and characteristics of the russell 1000 index are provided monthly by ftse russell as of may 31 2024 the russell 1000 had 1 004 holdings and the average market cap was 832 billion the annual return for the russell 1000 index was 26 53 in 2023 and the average five year return was 15 42 5