NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and SAM, the investment boutique focused exclusively on sustainability investing, today announced the launch of its European sustainability index series. The Dow Jones Sustainability Europe indexes complement the global Dow Jones Sustainability index series and include broad benchmark as well as blue chip indexes for Europe and the Euro zone. The new indexes are designed to serve as benchmarks and to underlie index-linked investment products such as funds, exchange-traded funds, structured products, futures and options.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index measures the performance of the leading companies in terms of sustainability in Europe. As of September 8, 2010 the index includes 150 components, which is 47% of the free-float market capitalization of the Dow Jones Europe Total Stock Market Index. The index is calculated in euro and U.S. dollars and components are weighted by free-float market capitalization. The Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index is reviewed annually in September. The top five components of the index are Nestle S.A., HSBC Holdings PLC (UK Reg), Novartis AG, Total S.A. and Banco Santander S.A.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Eurozone Index measures the performance of the leading companies in terms of sustainability in the Euro zone region. As of September 8, 2010 the index includes 84 components, which is 49% of the free-float market capitalization of the Dow Jones Eurozone Total Stock Market Index. The index is calculated in euros and U.S. dollars and components are weighted by free-float market capitalization. The Dow Jones Sustainability Eurozone Index is reviewed annually in September. The top five components of the index are Total S.A., Banco Santander S.A., Telefonica S.A., Siemens AG and BNP Paribas S.A.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Europe 40 and Dow Jones Sustainability Eurozone 40 indexes track the performance of the 40 largest sustainability leaders in the Europe and Euro zone region respectively. Components are weighted by their sustainability score and thus based on economic, environmental and social criteria. The indexes are calculated in euros and U.S. dollars and are reviewed annually in September. The top five components in the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe 40 are Novo Nordisk A/S Series B, Nestle S.A., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Rio Tinto PLC and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
The top five components in the Dow Jones Sustainability Eurozone 40 are Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, BMW AG, Siemens AG and Heineken N.V.
Companies for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are selected based on an assessment of long-term economic, environmental and social criteria. All indexes are free-float market capitalization weighted and calculated in euros and U.S. dollars.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the oldest benchmarks for Sustainability Investing. Aggregate investment volumes in portfolios tracking the global index series now total more than $8 billion globally.
For more information on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, please visit or .
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About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes ( www.djindexes.com ) is a leading full-service index provider that 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 offers more than 130,000 equity indexes as well as fixed-income and alternative indexes, including measures of hedge funds, commodities and real estate. Dow Jones Indexes employs clear, unbiased and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families. Dow Jones Indexes is the marketing name for CME Group Index Services LLC, a joint venture company which is owned 90 percent by CME Group Inc. ( www.cmegroup.com ) and 10 percent by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ( www.dowjones.com ), a News Corporation company (Nasdaq:NWS) (Nasdaq:NWSA) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV) ( www.newscorp.com ).
"Dow Jones®", "Dow Jones Indexes", "Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Indexes" and all other index names listed above are service marks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"), and have been licensed for use by CME Group Index Services LLC ("CME Indexes"). Investment products based on the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, CME Indexes or their respective affiliates and none of Dow Jones, CME Indexes and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Indexes does not in any way reflect an opinion of Dow Jones, CME Indexes or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Dow Jones, CME Indexes or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes were first published on August 4, 2010.
CONTACT: Dow Jones Indexes press offices: New York: +1-212-597-5720 Frankfurt: +49-69-29725-290 Hong Kong: +852-800-969-336 Singapore: +65-6-4154-299 SAM Contact Francois Vetri, Head Communications +41 44 653 10 02 Fax: +41 44 653 10 80 com@sam-group.com www.sam-group.com Josefstrasse 218 CH-8005 Zurich