NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and Barron's, America's premier financial weekly magazine, today announced the launch of the Barron's 400 Index which will track the performance of highly liquid U.S. stocks, highlighting America's most promising companies as defined by fundamentals-related rules-based criteria.
The Barron's 400 Index is a joint collaboration of Dow Jones Indexes and Barron's, which are business units of Dow Jones & Company. Dow Jones Indexes intends to license the new index to underlie financial products such as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles. For Barron's, the new index will provide additional subject matter for articles and analysis in the print publication and on Barron's Online (http://www.barrons.com).
"The Barron's 400 Index is the result of successful cooperation and teamwork between Dow Jones business units. We've combined our 10 years of proven expertise in building innovative, rules-based indexes with Barron's excellent reputation as a trusted source of financial news and analysis to deliver this unique, leading-edge stock market indicator to the investment community," said Michael A. Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes.
"The Barron's 400 relies on many of the barometers used by our writers in evaluating companies, and we feel that will help make it a highly successful index for market participants," said Ed Finn, president and editor of Barron's.
The index will be prominently featured at the top right of the Barron's Online homepage, along with other key market indexes. The site will also have a section, accessible from the homepage of Barron's Online, that includes more details about the index's performance and components.
To be eligible for inclusion, stocks are rated by fundamental criteria that measure companies' profitability, cash flow and "growth" and "value" style characteristics. Fundamental analysis and rating of stocks is conducted by MarketGrader.com Corp., a research firm based in Coral Gables, Fla.
Stocks must then pass additional rules-based screens applied by Dow Jones Indexes: Securities must have a minimum float-adjusted market capitalization of $250 million USD, and at least 100 of the index's 400 stocks must each have market capitalization of more than $3 billion USD. Companies must have reported quarterly or annual earnings results within six months prior to semi-annual reviews, and their stocks must have traded an average of at least $2 million daily for the preceding three months.
The top 400 stocks that meet these criteria are selected as components of the Barron's 400 Index. Components are equal weighted and industries are capped at 20% of the index to ensure diversification. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are ineligible for inclusion.
As of August 31, 2007, the estimated Barron's 400 Index, based on back-tested data, is up 221.04% since its inception on December 31, 1997, while the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 is up 59.25% in the same time period.
The index is reviewed semi-annually in March and September. Estimated daily back-tested history is available back to December 31, 1997. Back-tested performance information is purely hypothetical and does not represent actual performance. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Index values will be published daily on the Dow Jones Indexes Web site (http://djindexes.com) and on Barron's Online (http://www.barrons.com).
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to:
Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX press office: PR-Indexes@dowjones.com New York: +1-212-597-5720 Frankfurt: +49-69-29-725-290 Barron's: Christine Mohan christine.mohan@dowjones.com +1-212-416-2114
Note to Editors:
About Dow Jones Indexes
A full-service index provider, Dow Jones Indexes develops, maintains and licenses indexes for use as benchmarks and as the basis of investment products. Best known for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones Indexes also is co-owner of the Dow Jones STOXX indexes, the world's leading pan-European indexes, and together with Wilshire Associates, provides the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index family, which is anchored by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and covers more than 12,000 securities in 59 markets. Beyond equity indexes, Dow Jones Indexes maintains a number of alternative indexes, including measures of the hedge fund and commodity markets. Dow Jones indexes are maintained according to clear, unbiased and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families. www.djindexes.com
Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (www.dowjones.com), which is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Licensing Services, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
The Dow Jones Indexes logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1289
About Barron's
Barron's magazine, published by Dow Jones & Company since 1921, is America's premier financial weekly. Barron's reaches an influential audience of corporate decision makers, institutional investors, individual investors and financial professionals.
Each issue provides readers with a complete market wrap-up of the previous week's activity, plus in-depth, sophisticated news reports and an outlook on the week to come. Barron's covers what happens when money and markets come together -- who wins, who loses and why.
Each weekend, Barron's is read by people eager to prepare for the market's opening bell on Monday morning. Barron's comprehensive combination of reporting and statistics aptly arm these readers for the shocks and turmoil of market battles to come.
Barron's is read intensely -- cover-to-cover, week-after-week -- by some of the most powerful people in the world, people who need this information delivered in a timely, accurate and reliable manner for their professional success and their personal, financial well-being.
The Barron's logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4145