- ETF Performance Summary -

December 27, 2010 (FinancialWire) (http://www.financialwire.net/) — Comparing performance of the SPDR Trust ETF (AMEX: SPY) to the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (AMEX: IWM) and the iShares Russell Microcap ETF (AMEX: IWC) provides a fair representation of how small- and micro-cap stocks are faring in relation to their greater-capitalized counterparts.

As of the close of Thursday’s (abbreviated, pre Christmas Eve) trading session, looking back at the most recent fifty trading sessions, the iShares Russell Microcap ETF (IWC) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) are outperforming the SPDR Trust ETF (SPY) by approximately 58 to 76 percent, respectively, in terms of overall 50-day gain-loss percentage comparisons. The Russell Microcap leads all three ETFs marking an overall 13.36% ($5.91 per share) 50-day gain, followed by the Russell 2000 ETF marking an overall 12.04% ($8.46 per share) 50-day gain, followed by the SPDR Trust’s overall 7.64% ($8.93 per share) 50-day gain.

IWC closed at $50.10 per share on volume of 127,600 shares Thursday, which was $3.99 (8.66%) above its 50-day $46.11 per share average and 32,810 shares (20.45%) below its 50-day 160,410 share average volume.

IWM closed at $78.72 per share on volume of 25,239,600 shares Thursday, which was $5.67 (7.77%) above its 50-day $73.05 per share average and 22,706,706 shares (47.36%) below its 50-day 47,946,306 share average volume.

SPY closed at $125.60 per share on volume of 70,053,700 shares Thursday, which was $5.38 (4.48%) above its 50-day $120.22 per share average and 104,297,914 shares (59.82%) below its 50-day 174,351,614 share average volume.

Last Monday, pre-market December 20, looking back at the preceding fifty trading sessions, the iShares Russell Microcap ETF (IWC) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) were outperforming the SPDR Trust ETF (SPY) by more than one hundred percent, in terms of overall 50-day gain-loss percentage comparisons. The Russell Microcap led all three ETFs marking an overall 14.99% ($6.42 per share) 50-day gain, followed by the Russell 2000 ETF marking an overall 14.05% ($9.61 per share) 50-day gain, followed by the SPDR Trust’s overall 7.11% ($8.24 per share) 50-day gain.

About The ETFs:

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

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

The SPDR Trust is an exchange-traded fund that holds all of the S&P 500 Index stocks, and corresponds generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Index. It 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.

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