I was looking at 5 year returns (14.11.2013 - 14.11.2018) on both indexes: ^SP500TR (Total return S&P500 index): 67.18% in USD ^SPX (Price return S&P500 index): 50.87% in USD And comparing to two iShares ETF's for european investors - both are total return (dividends accumulated): IUSE (iShares S&P 500 UCITS hedged EUR): 51.09% in EUR CSPX (iShares S&P 500 UCITS unhedged EUR): 64.06% in USD, 97% in EUR (with FX return) Why is there a 13% difference between returns of IUSE (EUR) and CSPX (USD)? Is currency hedging so expensive? In Key Investor Information document they said, they use one month FX forward contracts and Total Expense Ratio is 0.2% p.a. It looks like all income from dividends is used for hedging costs.
The EUR/USD exchange rate changed a lot during the second half of 2014. It used to be in the 1.35 ~ 1.40 range. And then it changed quickly to the 1.10 ~ 1.20 range and stayed there ever since. I would therefore not use January 2014 as reference point to compare performance. Instead use January 2015 as starting point for your comparison.