July 30, 2009 (FinancialWire) — As of Wednesday’s close, bothe the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM) and the iShares Russell Microcap ETF (NYSE: IWC) had significantly outperformed the SPDR Trust ETF (NYSE: SPY) in terms of overall 50-day gain-loss comparison, with the Russell 2000 ETF marking an overall 11.44% (5.63 point) 50-day gain and the Russell Microcap marking an overall 13.39% (4.19 point) 50-day gain, versus the SPDR Trust’s overall 8.77% (7.89 point) 50-day gain.

In terms of 50-day rolling averages, trading volume for the SPDR Trust saw activity at 8.30% below its average, while the Russell 2000 ETFs trading volume was up by 0.17% and the Russell Microcap ETFs volume was 132.06% above its 50-day average.

Looking at gain-loss numbers compared to 50-day averages, the SPDR and Russell Microcap showed equally superior performance to that of the Russell 2000, while all three posted relatively significant gains. The SPDR closed 12.80% (11.11 points) above its 50-day average, the Russell Microcap closed 12.78% (4.02 points) above its 50-day average, and the Russell 2000 closed 9.54% (4.78 points) above its 50-day average.

On the day Wednesday, the SPDR Trust lost 0.24 points (0.245%) with an intra-day trading range of 1.134% to close at 97.65, the iShares Russell Microcap lost 0.08 points (0.225%) with an intra-day trading range of 0.761% to close at 35.41, and the iShares Russell 2000 lost 0.28 points (0.508%) with an intra-day trading range of 1.070% to close at 54.84.

About This Article The ETFs:

The intent of this article is to contrast the activity and performance of the major, large-cap equity universe against that of the small-cap equity universe. The ETFs chosen to illustrate that contrast are described as follows:

The SPDR Trust ETF corresponds generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Index. SPDR Trust is an exchange-traded fund that holds all of the S&P 500 Index stocks, and is comprised of undivided ownership interests called SPDRs. The fund issues and redeems SPDRs in multiples of 50,000 SPDRs in exchange for S&P 500 Index stocks and cash. The S&P 500 is an index of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry grouping, among other factors. The S&P 500 is designed to be a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is meant to reflect the risk/return characteristics of the large cap universe. Companies included in the index are selected by the S&P Index Committee, a team of analysts and economists at Standard & Poor’s. The S&P 500 is a market value weighted index - each stock’s weight in the index is proportionate to its market value. The S&P 500 is one of the most commonly used benchmarks for the overall U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was at one time the most renowned index for U.S. stocks, but because the DJIA contains only 30 companies, a growing consensus is that the S&P 500 is a better representation of the U.S. market. In fact, many now consider it to be the definition of the market.

The iShares Russell Microcap ETF investment results correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell Microcap index. The fund invests at least 90% of assets in the securities of the underlying index. It uses a representative sampling strategy to try to track the Russell microcap index. The Russell Microcap Index is a capitalization-weighted index and includes companies ranging in total market capitalization from approximately $50 million to $550 million and represents approximately 3% of the market capitalization of listed U.S. equity securities.

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF investment correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 index. The fund invests at least 90% of assets in the securities of the underlying index. It uses a representative sampling strategy in order to track the Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the US equity broad market. The fund invests in approximately 2000 of the smallest capitalization-weighted companies in the Russell 3000 index.

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Free annual reports for ETF component companies are available through the Free Annual Reports Service (http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279).

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