NEW YORK, May 1, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the launch of 10 customized, subsector indexes selected from large- and small-cap stocks. Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has licensed the indexes to serve as the basis for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) expected to be available in May.
The new indexes are the Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Equipment & Services Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Health Care Providers Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Medical Equipment Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Insurance Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Investment Services Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Builders Index, Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace and Defense Index and Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index.
These specialty indexes are designed to track select groups of liquid stocks that represent granular levels of sector classification, as defined by the Industry Classification System (ICB), a classification system jointly owned by Dow Jones Indexes and FTSE Group. This enhanced investability makes the indexes particularly suited to serve as underlying for financial products.
"These new indexes indicate a rising demand for more specialized financial tools that tailor to the needs of market participants, and are the latest successes in our growing customized index business. We expect to see further developments in this area," said Michael A. Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes/Ventures. "BGI is certainly one of the leading providers of such innovative, index-linked offerings."
"Our goal is to offer investors the broadest and highest quality exchange-traded products in the market," said Lee Kranefusss, CEO of BGI's Intermediary and ETF Business. "iShares Funds appeal to many types of investors who use them in a wide variety of strategies. Many of our tactical users, both retail and institutional, have expressed considerable interest in more precise sector exposure."
Nine of the 10 specialty indexes are classified according to three of the four ICB levels. Regional Banks is not part of the existing ICB structure but rather a customized group.
To be included in the indexes, a company must have a minimum float-adjusted market capitalization of $500 million on the last business day of the month prior to the indexes' quarterly review. The float-adjusted market capitalization of current components must be above $250 million to remain in the indexes.
The exceptions to the market capitalization screening rule are the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Builders Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index.
These new indexes have proven to outperform the overall U.S. stock market in the long run. Over a 10-year period, the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Builders Index posted a return of 558.06% while the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 returned 103.42%.
There is no fixed number of components for the new indexes. At launch the largest index is the Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks, which contains 87 stocks; and the smallest index is the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index, with 22 components.
A weighting scheme is applied to nine of the 10 new indexes, with the exception of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index. No component can represent more than 25% of the index, and the sum of the weights of components that weigh more than 5% cannot exceed 45% of the index.
The new indexes will be reviewed on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. Monthly performance history is available back to December 31, 1991, and daily performance history is available back to December 31, 1998 for nine of the new indexes. For the Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index, daily and monthly performance history is available back to December 31, 1994. More information on the indexes can be found at www.djindexes.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com or contact Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX press office:
New York: +1-212-597-5720 Frankfurt: +49-69-29725-290
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About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the world's most vital business and financial news and information. Dow Jones Indexes is a premier global provider of investable indexes, including the Dow Jones Averages and the Dow Jones Global, Regional, Country and Sector Titans Indexes and is co-owner of the Pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Indexes. Together with Wilshire Associates, Dow Jones Indexes markets and licenses the Dow Jones Wilshire index family, which includes the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and its size, style, and sector indexes. Dow Jones Indexes also offers a number of specialty indexes including hedge fund, commodity and credit derivative indexes.
In addition to Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (dowjones.com) publishes The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva and with Hearst of SmartMoney. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
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