What is the European version of the S&P 500? S&P 500 equivalent index in Europe

When investors think of the U.S. stock market, the S&P 500 often comes to mind.

However, considering the U.S.’s increasing protectionism and political instability, European investors are asking whether they are too exposed to the U.S. market in the first place and are beginning to look at Europe as a possible source of diversification. Studies show that diversifying your investments across countries can be very beneficial in the long term and increase the performance of your investments. So, why not consider Europe?

The European equivalent of the S&P 500 is the STOXX Europe 600 index, commonly referred to as the STOXX 600. As the name suggests, it tracks 600 of the biggest publicly traded companies in Europe and represents nearly 90% of the investable market. It also has a huge benefit for euro-zone investors as it carries significantly less currency risk, since about 55% of the index is euro-denominated. Let’s look at it in more detail.

STOXX 600: Broad market exposure across 17 countries

The STOXX 600 is very diversified: it includes companies from almost every major developed economy in Europe. You’ll find firms from Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, and many others – 17 countries in total. Here is what the top 10 country exposure looks like (as of June 2025):

STOXX 600 vs S&P 500: Diversification, sectors, and currency

Apart from the obvious geographical difference, there are other things to keep in mind when comparing the STOXX 600 with the S&P 500.

Firstly, the S&P 500 index is quite tech-dominated (about 32% of the index), while Europe’s strongest sector is Industrial Goods and Services (14.4%), followed by Pharmaceutical (14%), Banks (12%) and only then Technology (at just 8%). Therefore, for investors who want to be especially exposed to the tech industry, this can be a major drawback.

Here is a breakdown of the top 7 industry sizes in the STOXX 600:

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Overall, in the STOXX 600, no single country or sector drives returns, with the largest company, SAP (Germany), accounting for only a portion of the index. You don’t have to guess which European country or sector will do best. You can get all of them in one fund, roughly in proportion to their market size. Additionally, being euro-denominated and Europe-focused, it can be a great fit for goals like retirement investing in the Eurozone, where you want growth but prefer not to take on extra currency risk from U.S. assets.

Performance: STOXX 600 vs S&P 500

As of the date of writing, June 2025, the STOXX600 has already increased +7.44% year-to-date (YTD), compared to a negative -7.82% of the S&P500, when calculating the returns in euros. However, if we extend our period to the last 52 weeks, the S&P 500 shows a higher return (8.53% vs. 5.75% for STOXX 600).

This is a clear example of currency risk, and this year, it is more relevant than ever, as the USD has been depreciating, making S&P returns negative for Euro investors. For example, if you buy an ETF of the S&P 500 and it increases by 5% in dollar terms, a 7% drop in the USD/EUR exchange rate would mean a negative return when converted to euros. This makes currency as an important factor for European investors.

Still, over its history, almost always did the S&P 500 outperform the STOXX 600. Since 1992, the S&P 500 averaged 10.64%, compared to 7.82% of the STOXX 600. This is especially important since their risk (measured by standard deviation) was roughly the same, so the S&P performed better historically per unit of risk.

Just in the last 10 years, using data from Refinitiv, we can see that 100 euros invested in both funds in January of 2015 would grow to 355€ (!) in the S&P 500 and 210€ in STOXX 600 by May of 2025, which shows again how much the S&P 500 outperformed in the past.

However, there are clear diversification benefits from combining both indices in a portfolio. While the S&P 500 has historically outperformed the STOXX 600, including European equities can reduce exposure to U.S.-specific risk, which makes investing smoother.

Since past returns do not mean future performance, while choosing our allocation to both markets, we should ask ourselves: will the S&P 500 continue to outperform, or are we entering a period where European markets could take the lead? Investing in an index is more about the overall economy of a country or zone rather than specific stocks.

How to Invest in the STOXX 600 - best ETFs

If you have made it this far and are interested in the idea of investing in Europe, then you don’t need to buy the 600 stocks individually. You can simply buy a low-cost ETF that follows the STOXX 600. There are several on the market, but to make things easier, I have selected two good ones:

How to invest in STOXX 600 (using DEGIRO)

There are many great brokers out there. The process is similar in all of them. In my case, I will use DEGIRO and buy the Amundi STOXX Europe 600 UCITS.

The first step is to log in to the platform and search for “Amundi STOXX Europe 600 UCITS”. You should see the ETF listed in multiple stock exchanges (in this case, all trade in euros):

You can check which stock exchange you’ll be trading in the first letters after the name of the ETF: XET (Deutsche Börse), TDG (Tradegate Exchange) and EPA (Euronext Paris).

To choose the stock exchange for your ETF, you should consider several factors such as liquidity, commissions, out-of-hours needs, and tax purposes. Simply put, TDG has longer trading hours, although at a lower liquidity. If you value liquidity more than the trading hours, then XETRA is possibly the better option. Suppose you want to trade in XET, you click on it.

Then, press “Buy”, type of order (Limited Order for guaranteed price or Market Order for guaranteed execution), the amount and place the order. On DEGIRO, this is seen on the right part of the screen.

Video summary

Want to learn more? Check this video about how to invest in the European stock market:

Conclusion

In short, if you want to invest in the European economy overall, STOXX 600 is the way to go. It invests across 17 developed European countries, and you can simply pick one of the great ETFs out there.

Hope this helped!