What is the Wilshire 5000?

Started in 1974, the Wilshire 5000 is often referred to as the Total Stock Market Index because it seeks to track the returns of practically all publicly traded, U.S.-headquartered stocks that trade on the major exchanges. Although this index is less well known than the others, it is in fact the largest index by market value in the world.

Strengths: The total market index is just that -- an index of all U.S.-based companies traded on the New York, American, and Nasdaq stock exchanges. This makes the Wilshire 5000 the most diverse of any U.S.-based index.

Weaknesses: The 500 largest companies comprise more than 70% of the index's value, so total performance is weighted toward the top few (relatively speaking) companies. The Wilshire 5000 does not contain any foreign companies, and thus measures economic performance in the United States only.

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