The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the annual re-ranking of the NASDAQ-100 Index(R), effective with the market open on Monday, December 21, 2009.
The following seven issues will be added to the NASDAQ-100 Index: Vodafone Group Plc (Nasdaq:VOD), Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq:MAT), BMC Software, Inc. (Nasdaq:BMC), Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq:MYL), QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq:QGEN), SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK), and Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq:VMED).
"We are delighted that these companies have been included in the NASDAQ-100 Index," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John L. Jacobs. "Of the seven new companies in the index, four transferred their listed securities from the NYSE to The NASDAQ Stock Market(R). Inclusion in the NASDAQ-100 Index, a globally recognized brand, provides these companies with increased visibility and distinguishes them as some of the world's leading large-cap growth companies."
The NASDAQ-100 Index is composed of the 100 largest non-financial stocks on The NASDAQ Stock Market and dates to January 1985 when it was launched along with the NASDAQ Financial-100 Index(R), which is comprised of the 100 largest financial stocks on NASDAQ(R). These indexes were originally designed to segment NASDAQ into two major industry groups to support media coverage and to act as benchmarks for financial products such as options, futures, and funds. The NASDAQ-100 Index is re-ranked each year in December, timed to coincide with the quadruple witch expiration Friday of the quarter.
On a cumulative price return basis, the NASDAQ-100 Index has returned 1314% since inception, although past performance is not indicative of future performance.
The NASDAQ-100 Index is the basis of the PowerShares QQQ(R) Trust (Nasdaq:QQQQ) which aims to provide investment results that, before expenses, correspond with the NASDAQ-100 Index performance. In addition, options, futures and structured products based on the NASDAQ-100 Index and the PowerShares QQQ Trust trade on various exchanges.
As a result of the re-ranking of the NASDAQ-100 Index, the following seven securities will be removed: Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:AKAM), Hansen Natural Corporation (Nasdaq:HANS), IAC/InterActive Corp (Nasdaq:IACI), Liberty Global's Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq:LBTYA), Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc. (Nasdaq:PPDI), Ryanair Holdings plc (Nasdaq:RYAAY), and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq:STLD).
To learn more about the criteria for inclusion to the NASDAQ-100, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/data.aspx?IndexSymbol=NDX.
