NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today launched the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index, which measures the performance of the 100 leading dividend-paying companies worldwide.
The Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index is designed to underlie investment products, such as exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and other investment vehicles and further complements the Dow Jones and Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Indexes series.
"Interest in our innovative and highly successful select dividend index series for the U.S., the Euro zone, Europe and Asia is growing consistently. Our select dividend index series already underlies 17 exchange-traded funds globally," said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes. "The Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index enables market participants to take advantage of the returns of the top dividend yielding companies globally with components being weighted according to their dividend yield, not by their market capitalization."
The index universe of the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index is defined as all component companies of the 24 developed-market country indexes in the Dow Jones Global Indexes (DJGI) family, which cover approximately 95% of their underlying market capitalization.
To be eligible for inclusion in the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index, a component must have a positive, historical, five-year dividend-per-share growth rate and a dividend-to-earnings-per-share ratio of less than or equal to 60% for U.S. and European companies and 80% for all other countries. The component must also have a minimum three-month daily average trading volume of $3 million USD.
Each company's weight in the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index is based on its indicated annual dividend yield. The indicated annual dividend yields for all components are totaled, and each component's weight is equal to its dividend yield contribution. The weight of individual components in the new indexes is restricted to 10% in order to prevent the index from being dominated by a single high-dividend paying stocks.
The Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index is reviewed annually in December. Price and total return indexes are calculated in U.S. dollar. Daily historical index values are available back to December 31, 1998, with a base value set at 100.
The Dow Jones and Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Indexes series is based on the concept of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, which was launched in November 2003 in response to the increased interest of U.S. investors in companies issuing dividends after lower U.S. tax rates on dividends were introduced.
The series consists of the Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index, the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index, the Dow Jones STOXX NORDIC Select Dividend 20 Index, the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged Select Dividend 15 Index, Dow Jones STOXX Americas Select Dividend 40 Index, Dow Jones STOXX Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index, the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index, the Dow Jones Select Dividend Indexes for Asia, Asia/Pacific, Australia, Canada, EPAC, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. as well as the Dow Jones SWX Select Dividend 20 Index.
Components, weightings and performance figures for the Dow Jones Select Dividend 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: +49-69-29-725-290
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.com, eFinancialNews and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of STOXX Ltd. and provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
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