Index spotlight

On October 29, 2001, UBS Asset Management launched its ETF business with a fund tracking the EURO STOXX 50, the benchmark for Eurozone blue chips. To mark the 25th anniversary, we take stock of the index’s changing composition and evolution through market booms and busts.

Changes to the benchmark’s rules will be introduced in stages through 2029 and are aimed at making the index more representative of the market and quicker to react to investment trends. Based on backtested data, a STOXX analysis shows that the changes are likely to have little impact on the index’s sector allocation and performance.

Most ESG strategies focus on today’s leaders. The ISS STOXX ESG Climbers indices instead target companies improving their sustainability performance over time, offering exposure to the transition — not just the outcome.

Celebrated each May 9, Europe Day is a fitting moment to take stock of the STOXX Europe 600 — which is attracting strong inflows into linked investment products while new ETFs are being introduced. With the latter, the set of trading and strategy possibilities around European equities continues to grow.

This year, STOXX is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its Thematic indices suite, which has grown alongside investors’ continued push to tap into long-term megatrends shaping the modern world.

Devised in 2020, the European Union’s Climate Transition Benchmarks (CTBs) and Paris-aligned Benchmarks (PABs) were designed to support climate goals that have continued to evolve since then. In response, the indices’ methodologies have recently been updated to reflect shifting priorities and real-world developments.

Introduced in 1996, the MDAX tracks Germany’s listed mid-cap companies, widely regarded as the backbone of the national economy. The index has become a popular barometer for investors, both in terms of the breadth of investable products linked to it and the returns it has delivered over the past three decades.

In its third year of existence, the iShares EURO STOXX 50 ESG ETF offers exposure to a core Eurozone benchmark minus controversial business activities. Sophie Thurner, ETF Product Strategist at BlackRock, explains how the ESG ETF fits in investors’ portfolios and how its underlying index has adapted to evolving regulation.

Tom Shuttlewood, Head of Strategy and Digital Asset Indices within Product Development at STOXX, spoke during the Eurex Focus Day on Volatility about possible avenues to expand the current offering of the STOXX volatility indices.

Prices for the metal have climbed 24% this year amid ongoing structural demand and mining disruptions. The STOXX® Global Copper Miners index has performed more than twice as well — jumping 55% in 2025. We look at what’s inside the index.

Germany’s DAX is outperforming pan-European indices and its ETFs are luring record flows in 2025. Veronika Kylburg, Head of Global Benchmarks DAX at STOXX, discusses with the ETF publication what some of the drivers are behind this performance and explores the benchmark’s methodology changes since 2018.

The STOXX Global Junior Gold Miners and STOXX Global Silver Mining indices have each risen 126% in 2025 amid record prices for the underlying precious metals.