NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index will serve as the basis of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) expected to launch Friday on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by Indexchange, the German investment company that specializes in ETFs. The index, which tracks the top 100 highest dividend-paying U.S. companies, is the first U.S. dividend-weighted index to serve as an underlying for investment products in Europe.
"The success of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index in the United States and the recently launched pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Indexes reflects the increased popularity and growing demand of investors for innovative dividend-investing techniques as an investment style," said Lars Hamich, managing director of STOXX Ltd., the joint venture that is responsible for Dow Jones Indexes' business development in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. "Now, for the first time, Europe-based investors can access the returns of the highest-yielding U.S. companies in addition to those based in Europe and the Eurozone."
In April of this year, STOXX Ltd.-a joint venture of Deutsche Boerse AG, Dow Jones & Company, and the SWX Group-launched the first pan-European select dividend indexes. Shortly thereafter, both the Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index and the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index were licensed as the basis for ETFs to European ETF providers, with Indexchange being the first ETF provider who launched their ETF products.
The inclusion of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index to Indexchange's family of dividend-focused products gives investors a wider variety of markets from which to pick and choose for their portfolios.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index was launched in November 2003 in response to increased interest of investors in U.S. companies issuing dividends because of the introduction of lower U.S. tax rates.
To be included in the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, a company must have a positive, historical five-year dividend-per-share growth rate, a five-year average dividend to earnings-per-share ratio of less than or equal to 60%, and a three-month average daily trading volume of 200,000 shares. Stocks that meet these criteria are then ranked by dividend yield and the top 100 are selected as components of the index.
The index is reviewed annually in December. History is available back to Dec. 31, 1991. The components, weightings and daily closing values of the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index are available on www.djindexes.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to
PR-Indexes@dowjones.com or contact a member of the Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX public relations group: New York: +1-212-597-5720 Frankfurt: + 49-69-97142815
Note to Editors:
About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the world's most vital business and financial news and information. Dow Jones Indexes is a premier global provider of investable indexes, including the Dow Jones Averages and the Dow Jones Global, Regional, Country and Sector Titans Indexes and is co-owner of the Pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Indexes. Together with Wilshire Associates, Dow Jones Indexes markets and licenses the Dow Jones Wilshire index family, which includes the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and its size, style, and sector indexes. Dow Jones Indexes also offers a number of specialty indexes including hedge fund, commodity and credit derivative indexes.
In addition to Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (dowjones.com) publishes The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva, with Hearst of SmartMoney and with NBC Universal of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
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