The enhanced index platform is built upon NASDAQ's industry-leading technology platform. All existing NASDAQ(R) indexes are calculated on this platform, including the world renowned NASDAQ-100 Index(R), NASDAQ Financial- 100 Index(R) NASDAQ Composite Index(R), NASDAQ Biotechnology Index(R) and America's Community Bankers NASDAQ Index(SM).
The index platform greatly expands NASDAQ's indexing capabilities, enabling 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 New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange.
John Jacobs, Executive Vice President of NASDAQ Financial Products, said, "As a leading index provider since 1971, we are committed to providing relevant strategy indexes and services to those ranging from the smallest investor, to the most sophisticated trader to the largest mutual fund manager."
The NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index is the equal weighted version of the NASDAQ-100 Index, which includes 100 of the largest non-financial securities listed on NASDAQ based on market capitalization. It enables investors to invest in equal measure in the performance of NASDAQ-100 securities. The Index contains the same securities as the NASDAQ-100 Index but each of the securities is initially set at a weight of 1.00% of the Index and is rebalanced quarterly.
The NASDAQ Health Care Index is a market value weighted index that contains NASDAQ listed companies classified, according to the FTSE(TM) Global Classification System, as "Health," "Pharmaceutical" or "Biotechnology." They include health maintenance organizations, hospital management and long-term care, medical equipment and supplies, other health care, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies. "These new indexes provide market participants with new opportunities to own shares in industry-leading companies and equips them with additional investment options," Jacobs added. "We are tremendously excited to add them to our broad selection of world-class indexes."
The NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index and the NASDAQ Healthcare Index are generally calculated without regard to cash dividends on component securities.
All NASDAQ indexes are calculated every fifteen seconds, disseminated at the same interval over the NASDAQ Index Dissemination Service(SM) (NIDS(SM)), and can be accessed through financial data vendors.
For more information about the NASDAQ indexes, please visit http://www.nasdaq.com. Additional information about the new indexes can be found at http://quotes.nasdaq.com/reference/IndexDescriptions.stm.
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 http://www.nasdaq.com or the NASDAQ Newsroom at http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.
