NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that 11 Dow Jones U.S. Sector Indexes have been licensed to ProShares Trust and its affiliates to serve as the basis of 22 leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs launched today on the American Stock Exchange.
The new ETFs are based on nine Dow Jones U.S. Industry Indexes and two Dow Jones U.S. Subsector Indexes: Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials Index, Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Index, Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Index, Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index, Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index, Dow Jones U.S. Industrials Index, Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index, Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index, Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index, Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Subsector Index and Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductors Subsector Index.
"ProShares' latest lineup of ETFs based on various Dow Jones industry and subsector indexes offers market participants a different, elevated approach to sector-style investing. The indexes licensed to ProShares encompass a diverse array -- from the broader industry groups to the more narrowly defined subsectors," said Michael A. Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes and Reprints.
The Dow Jones U.S. Market Indexes cover 95% of float-adjusted U.S. market capitalization. Industry groups for all Dow Jones Indexes are defined by the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB), a classification system jointly owned by Dow Jones Indexes and FTSE Group. The ICB structure is based on a four-tier hierarchy that includes 10 Industries, 18 Supersectors, 39 Sectors and 104 Subsectors under which more than 45,000 securities worldwide are classified.
The Dow Jones U.S. Industry Indexes are weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization. Daily history is available back to December 31, 1991. For further information, please visit http://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
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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 and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Licensing Services, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
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