Euro Stoxx 50
The 50 largest companies in the Eurozone, Europe's most-watched equity benchmark.
What it tracks
Stoxx Ltd (a joint venture of Deutsche Börse, SIX Group and Eurex) selects the 50 largest companies by free-float from Eurozone countries. Only euro-area members qualify, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark are excluded despite having large listed companies. The is reviewed annually. Each constituent is capped at 10% to prevent any single from dominating, though ASML regularly approaches that cap given its exceptional size relative to its peers.
Geographic exposure
Where in the world the index is invested, by domicile of listed company. For global indices this varies significantly between developed and emerging markets.
Only Eurozone countries qualify, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway are absent. Spain's 9% weight includes Inditex (Zara), Banco Santander, BBVA and Iberdrola. All returns are in euros; non-EUR investors carry against the euro.
Approximate end-2025 figures, returns in EUR
Historical performance
Annual total returns from 2001 onward, including reinvested . Move the slider to see what a different starting amount would have become, and switch to the bar view to see how uneven the path actually was.
Total return, dividends reinvested, before fees and taxes. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Returns by decade
Average annualised return for each full decade. This view makes it obvious that the path is anything but smooth, the 2000s were a lost decade for US equities, erasing all gains from the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis.
* 2020s is partial (2020–2025). All figures are approximate total return .
Sector breakdown
How the index splits across the eleven standard GICS sectors. The bigger the bar, the larger the weight in the index.
Approximate end-2025 figures, returns in EUR
Top 10 holdings
The largest names in the index by weight. Together they make up a meaningful share of the whole, pay attention to concentration.
| # | Company | Ticker | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASML Holding | ASML | 9.8% |
| 2 | SAP SE | SAP | 6.8% |
| 3 | LVMH | MC | 5.5% |
| 4 | TotalEnergies | TTE | 4.5% |
| 5 | Siemens | SIE | 4.0% |
| 6 | Airbus | AIR | 3.6% |
| 7 | Inditex | ITX | 3.5% |
| 8 | Sanofi | SAN | 3.0% |
| 9 | Schneider Electric | SU | 2.9% |
| 10 | Allianz | ALV | 2.8% |
ETFs that track it
The funds most long-term investors use to own this index. Lower are almost always better. Domicile matters for , UCITS funds are domiciled in Ireland (IE) for European investors, US-domiciled (US) for American ones.
| Ticker | Fund name | Provider | Domicile | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXW1 | iShares Core Euro STOXX 50 UCITS ETF EUR (Dist) | BlackRock | IE | Dist | 0.10% |
| EUNK | iShares Core Euro STOXX 50 UCITS ETF EUR (Acc) | BlackRock | IE | Acc | 0.10% |
| MEUD | Amundi Euro Stoxx 50 UCITS ETF Acc | Amundi | LU | Acc | 0.15% |
| FEZ | SPDR Euro STOXX 50 ETF | State Street | US | Dist | 0.29% |
Accumulating, are automatically reinvested inside the fund. You don't receive cash but the share price grows. Simpler for long-term and more tax-efficient in many European countries.
Distributing, are paid out to you as cash. You decide what to do with them, but you're also responsible for declaring and paying on each distribution. Common preference for investors who want regular income.
A bit of history
The Euro Stoxx 50 was created in 1987, a decade before the euro itself existed. It was designed to represent the economic heartland of what would become the eurozone. The index reached its all-time high in March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, and then 67% over the following three years. It did not recover that peak until 2024, twenty-four years later. Along the way it survived the (2010–2012), which uniquely hit European banks and governments, the 2008 financial , and COVID-19. The heavy weighting toward financials, energy and industrials makes it behave very differently from the Nasdaq or S&P 500.
- + Pure eurozone exposure, across 8 countries with returns naturally in euros.
- + Rock-bottom : EXW1 and EUNK charge just 0.10% per year.
- + Sector mix is genuinely different from the S&P 500, more industrials, financials and energy, less tech.
- + Includes Spanish names directly: Inditex, Santander, BBVA, Iberdrola.
- − The dot-com sent it down 67%, and it took 24 years to recover the year-2000 peak.
- − Only 50 stocks, very concentrated for a "broad market" index.
- − Heavy exposure to banks and traditional industries; structurally underweight in tech vs US indices.
- − Eurozone-specific risks: sovereign debt crises, ECB policy, political fragmentation.
- − CAGR 20 of ~5.5% lags the S&P 500 and MSCI World significantly.
All figures are approximate end-2025 values for educational illustration. Index composition, weights, holdings and returns change constantly. Nothing here is financial advice or a recommendation.