The CBOE NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Index will measure the performance of a theoretical portfolio that sells NASDAQ-100 Index-based call options against a portfolio of the securities comprising the NASDAQ-100 Index. A buy-write is an investment strategy in which an investor buys stock and also sells call options that correspond to the stock. This strategy can be used to enhance portfolio returns by potentially generating an income from the premiums of the options sold.
The CBOE NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Index is jointly owned by the CBOE and by NASDAQ, which is dedicated to creating a wider range of strategy indexes for investors.
John Jacobs, Executive Vice President of NASDAQ Financial Products, said, “The CBOE NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Index will give investors a strategic opportunity to use a product linked to a portfolio of industry-leading companies. This new benchmark has been developed in response to demand from a wide spectrum of industry interests who have a variety of risk preferences and return requirements.”
“We are very pleased to partner with NASDAQ in offering this exciting new product,” said CBOE Chairman and CEO, William J. Brodsky. “The NASDAQ-100 Index is one of the most recognized and widely followed indexes in the world, and by joining it with CBOE's proprietary, buy-write methodology, we have created a product that will provide portfolio managers and investors of all sizes with an important new benchmark against which to measure the performance of a buy-write strategy or fund.”
In a separate development, NASDAQ reinforced its position as a world class index company when it recently launched NASDAQ Index WatchSM, an online subscription service that provides aggregate daily statistics on indexes calculated and disseminated by NASDAQ. As the gold source of NASDAQ Index information, Index Watch offers daily summary statistics, index holdings, index news*, historical component changes* and industry breakdowns*. This service also tracks daily changes and adjustments to NASDAQ's top indexes, including the NASDAQ-100 Index, the NASDAQ Composite Index®, the NASDAQ Financial-100 Index® , the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index® and the America's Community Bankers NASDAQ Index SM. Customers can access information about the new service at
http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/trader/data/indexwatch.stm .
In addition, NASDAQ recently created the NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM (Symbol: NDXE) and the NASDAQ Healthcare Index SM (Symbol: IXHC). They are calculated on NASDAQ's new state-of-the-art indexing platform, which has enhanced NASDAQ's capabilities as an index provider. The platform enables NASDAQ to calculate and disseminate an unlimited number of indexes on a real-time basis. In addition to both total return and price return indexes, NASDAQ can now calculate and disseminate indexes that include securities listed on NASDAQ, the NYSE and Amex. More information about NASDAQ Indexes can be found at http://quotes.nasdaq.com/reference/IndexDescriptions.stm .
The CBOE also calculates and disseminates the CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index (Symbol: VXN). It is designed to reflect investors' consensus view of expected volatility over the next 30 days in the NASDAQ-100 Index and, as such, can be used as a benchmark of investor sentiment.
NASDAQ is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities market in the United States. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the NASDAQ Newsroom at www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.
