NEW YORK and GENEVA, Dec. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes is launching a new index, in collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which will help generate resources for the Global Fund's work.
The Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index measures the performance of the largest companies that support the mission of the Global Fund. A portion of revenues generated through the licensing of the index will go to the Global Fund.
The Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index is the flagship of a new index series, which will include indexes with overlaying strategies and additional themes. The index has been licensed to db X-trackers, the leading ETF platform of Deutsche Bank, to serve as a basis for a financial product, the db x-trackers Global Fund Supporters ETF. The ETF begins trading today on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
"The collaboration between Dow Jones Indexes and the Global Fund enables Dow Jones Indexes to create a new socially conscious measure, and we are pleased to be partnering with an organization with such strong principles and commitment to innovation," said Michael A. Petronella, President, Dow Jones Indexes.
Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, also welcomed the launch of the index. "I am very pleased that this collaboration with Dow Jones Indexes will provide the financial community with incentives to participate in innovative financing of health for development," said Prof. Kazatchkine. "This partnership will help us strengthen our engagement with the private sector and bring the power of financial markets to help save lives."
The index universe of eligible securities is created according to the methodology of the Dow Jones Total Stock Market Indexes. The top 50 companies (based on float-adjusted market capitalization) that contribute to the mission of the Global Fund are selected for the index. The index is quoted in U.S Dollars (USD). Float-market capitalization measures the amount of shares in a company that are readily available to be traded by investors.
No more than 15 companies are selected from any individual country. The weight of individual countries is capped at 40% and single components are capped at 20%. The composition of the index is reviewed annually, in June. Float factors, shares and weights are updated quarterly.
As of October 29, 2010, the year-to-date performance calculated in USD for the Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index is -4.29%. Back-tested historical data has been calculated daily back to December 31, 2004, the date at which the index base value is set at 1000.
Note to Editors:
About the Global Fund
The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main source of finance for programs to fight these 3 diseases, with funding of USD 19.8 billion for more than 600 programs in 149 countries. It has saved 6.5 million lives, from financing local educational, prevention and treatment programs.
About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes 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 a joint venture company which is owned 90 percent by CME Group Inc. and 10 percent by Dow Jones & Company, Inc., a News Corporation company (Nasdaq:NWS) (Nasdaq:NWSA) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV).
"Dow Jones®", "Dow Jones Indexes", "Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index" 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 Global Fund 50 Index 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 Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index 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.
CONTACT: The Global Fund Andrew Hurst - Communications + 41 58 791 16 72 Mobile : + 41 79 561 68 07 andrew.hurst@theglobalfund.org www.theglobalfund.org Dow Jones Indexes Public Relations Press Offices New York: +1 212 597 5720 London: +44 20 7796 7247 Frankfurt: +49 69 29725 290 Hong Kong: +852 800 969 336 Singapore: +65 6 4154 299 media@djindexes.com www.djindexes.com