NEW YORK, May 24, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and CRD Analytics announced today the results of the semi-annual re-ranking of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index (Nasdaq:QCRD), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, May 24, 2010.
The following twelve securities will be added to the Index: Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA), Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), Infosys Technologies Limited (Nasdaq:INFY), Eli Lilly & Company (NYSE:LLY), Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT), Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO), Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), UBS AG (NYSE:UBS).
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major U.S. stock exchange. The Index is made up of companies that have taken a leadership role in disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing. These are companies that are voluntarily disclosing their current environmental, social and governance risks as well as their revenue opportunities and how it will affect future performance. The securities must also meet other eligibility criteria which include minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume, and price. The Index is evaluated on a semi-annual basis in May and November. For more information about the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
"More and more companies and investors are recognizing that sustainability as a business and investment strategy will define success in the Twenty-First Century," said Michael Muyot, President and Founder of CRD Analytics. "The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, based on our SmartView analytics platform, is a key tool for tracking the performance of sustainability leaders. Hats off to those companies added to the index -- as they have raised the bar."
"The re-ranking of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index ensures its relevance as the most widely followed benchmark for companies that are on the leading edge of self-reporting sustainability activities," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "This index is a powerful tool for those who want to capture the investment opportunities created by the economic shift toward global sustainability."
As a result of the re-ranking, the following twelve securities will be removed from the Index: ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABB), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX), BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP), BT Group plc (NYSE:BT), Reed Elsevier PLC (NYSE:ENL), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS-A), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY), Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:SI), Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO), Vodafone Group PLC (Nasdaq:VOD), Westpac Banking Corporation (NYSE:WBK).
About NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group
NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group is engaged in the design, development, calculation, licensing, and marketing of NASDAQ OMX Indexes. NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group specializes in the development of indexes focusing on NASDAQ OMX's brand themes of innovation, technology, growth, and globalization. NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group also provides custom index services and design solutions as a third-party provider to selected financial organizations. For more information about NASDAQ OMX indexes, visit www.nasdaq.com/indexes.
Access to essential historical index data for NASDAQ OMX indexes can be accessed from a single source, NASDAQ OMX Global Index Watch. For additional information, please visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/indexwatch.aspx.
About NASDAQ OMX Group
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with more than 3,600 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. Please follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASDAQ-OMX/108167527653) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx).
About CRD Analytics
CRD Analytics is the leading provider of independent sustainability investment analytics. Using its proprietary SmartViewTM Technology Platform, CRD Analytics empowers its clients with actionable and performance-driven information distilled from large sets of complex data including financial, environmental, social, governance and patent information. CRD Analytics partners with its clients to construct proprietary index-based products – Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), separately-managed accounts, mutual funds and Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). For more information about CRD Analytics, go to http://www.crdanalytics.com.
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