Dow Jones has launched a European version of its US Dow Jones Industrial Average, marking the latest stage of expansion in the benchmarks it offers that encompass the Continent.
Dow Jones has launched a European version of its US Dow Jones Industrial Average, marking the latest stage of expansion in the benchmarks it offers that encompass the Continent.
So far this year Dow Jones Indexes unveiled six European dividend-focused, and two real estate indices, each launched on 20 September; two volatility index series on 13 September; and two blue-chip benchmarks mid-year.
It has also launched an Asian version of the iconic US index.
Both of the equally weighted regional indices are rebalanced to equal weight each September. The Europe Dow is calculated in US dollars and euro, the Asia Dow just in US dollars.
They come 115 years after the iconic DJIA began – and at a time US investors increasingly look beyond their indebted homeland for new investment ideas.
Each regional Dow Jones benchmark – called the Asia Dow and Europe Dow – will have 30 blue chip stocks, and operate using the same principles as the DJIA. The same committee that maintains the DJIA will oversee the new gauges.
France and Germany each contribute five constituents to the Europe Dow, while Great Britain has nine. Switzerland has four and Spain and Sweden two each. The full list for Europe is below.
In the Asia Dow, Japan is most heavily represented by number (seven companies), followed by Australia, China and Hong Kong (four each), South Korea and Taiwan (three each), and India with two.
“We believe the Europe Dow and the Asia Dow will be a welcome addition to the marketplace,” said Jamie Farmer, executive director, global business development and communications.
Component stocks must be publicly traded equities from Western Europe for the Europe Dow, and Asia/Pacific for the Asia Dow, on markets open to foreign investment.
The firm said companies may be added based upon their regional and global reputation, “demonstrated sustained growth” and market participants’ continued interest. Maintaining adequate sector representation is also taken into account.
The European index constituents are Denmark’s Novo Nordisk A/S Series B; France’s BNP Paribas SA, Vivendi SA, Vinci SA, Schneider Electric SA, and Total SA; Germany’s Allianz SE, BASF SE, Daimler AG, Siemens AG, E.ON AG; the UK’s BP Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Diageo Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Rio Tinto Plc, Vodafone Group Plc, Tesco Plc, Anglo American Plc; Italy’s Unicredit S.p.A; the Netherlands’ Unilever NV CVA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc; Spain’s Banco Santander SA and Telefonica SA; Sweden’s LM Ericsson TelephoneCo Series and Hennes & Mauritz AB Series B; and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd, Nestle SA, Novartis AG, and UBS AG.
