Some firms and analysts use the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) World Index for a more global benchmark.
The MSCI World Index captures large and mid cap representation across 23 Developed Markets (DM) countries*. With 1,633 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.

As of February, 2015, 58% of MSCI World was 58% US, 8% Japan, 8% UK, 4% France, 4% Canada, 18% other.

Top 10 Constituents
Country Mkt Cap
(USD Billions)
Index
Wt. (%)
Sector Sector
Wt. (%)
APPLE US 729.76 2.17 Info Tech 16.3
EXXON MOBIL CORP US 359.93 1.07 Energy 14.4
MICROSOFT CORP US 318.36 0.95 Info Tech 7.1
JOHNSON & JOHNSON US 281.59 0.84 Health Care 6.3
WELLS FARGO & CO US 268.10 0.80 Financials 3.9
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO US 249.15 0.74 Industrials 6.8
NESTLE CH1 243.69 0.73 Cons Staples 7.4
NOVARTIS CH1 227.71 0.68 Health Care 5.1
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO US 226.46 0.67 Financials 3.3
PROCTER & GAMBLE CO US 221.41 0.66 Cons Staples 6.7
Total 3,126.16 9.30
See www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/index_fact_sheet/msci-world-index.pdf

1. CH - Switzerland

* DM countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

MSCI EAFE* Index & S&P 42 year:

* The MSCI EAFE Index is an equity index which captures large and mid cap representation across Developed Markets countries around the world, excluding the US and Canada.

MSCI World Index & S&P 30 year:
MSCI World vs S&P index price, historical, return

MSCI World vs S&P

MSCI vs S&P 2 year
MSCI World vs S&P

With all the concerns about Europe the MSCI still went up 4.4% in the first 4 months of 2015 while the S&P went up 5.7%.

You can't go to yahoo finance and get prices for MSCI ( Morgan Stanley Capital International) because it is proprietary. You have to go to www.msci.com/products/indexes/performance.html, which is hard to navigate and may require an account now. You need to select net index level when you drill down to the details. There are some ETFs which track the MSCI. URTH and ACWI.

last updated 17 May 2015