The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the third quarter and year-to-date activities report for the NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group. The Global Index Group creates and licenses indexes, which are the basis of financial instruments, and provides full-service index support to financial product issuers, sponsors and investors.
Business Highlights
- NASDAQ OMX completed the acquisition of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The Global Index Group is now responsible for the calculation and licensing of the PHLX Sector Index Series.
- NASDAQ OMX launched the NASDAQ OMX Europe Index on September 26. The NASDAQ OMX Europe Index is a market capitalized weighted index designed to track the companies traded on the NASDAQ OMX Europe Marketplace.
- During the third quarter, the NASDAQ-100 Index Future, listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), became the second equity- index future to cross the threshold of 500 million contracts traded with a notional value greater than $25 trillion.
- NASDAQ OMX launched 32 new indexes in the third quarter and a total of 53 indexes through September 30, 2008.
- Ten ETFs were introduced based on NASDAQ OMX Indexes. Eight of the ETFs were listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ) while one was launched on the London Stock Exchange and one on XETRA.
- The NASDAQ Financial-100 Index significantly outperformed other financial indexes by returning 13.48% in the third quarter.
Index Performance
During the third quarter and year-to-date, NASDAQ OMX indexes -- the benchmark for 36 ETFs worldwide -- paced the market for both broad-based and sector performance. The table below shows the third quarter and year-to-date performances of some of NASDAQ OMX's top performing indexes:
Name YTD (9/30/08) 3rd Quarter
PHLX Housing Index -10.06% 20.23%
NASDAQ Financial-100 Index -11.03% 13.48%
NASDAQ Biotechnology Index 0.13% 5.38%
OMRX Treasury Bond Index 5.52% 5.25%
NASDAQ OMX Global Biotechnology Index(1) 8.42% 5.02%
OMRX Total Bond Index 3.11% 2.95%
OMRX Treasury Bill Index 3.11% 1.07%
OMRX Real Return Bond Index 3.99% 1.03%
PHLX Retail Index -12.98% 0.65%
PHLX Defense Index -14.63% -3.59%
NASDAQ Composite Index -21.13% -8.77%
OMX GES Sustainability Sweden Index -25.94% -8.91%
OMX Stockholm 30 Index -28.94% -10.40%
NASDAQ Transportation Index -20.69% -12.70%
NASDAQ-100 Index -23.52% -13.20%
New Indexes
In the third quarter, NASDAQ OMX developed the following new indexes (both price and total return variants for a total of 32 new indexes):
Name Ticker
NASDAQ OMX Global Agriculture Index QAGR
NASDAQ OMX Global Gold & Precious Metals Index QGLD
NASDAQ OMX Global Biotechnology Index1 QGBI
NASDAQ OMX Global Coal Index QCOL
NASDAQ OMX Global Steel Index QSTL
NASDAQ OMX Ireland Index QIRL
Wilder NASDAQ OMX Global Energy Efficient
Transport Index HAUL
NASDAQ OMX Europe Index NEUX
OMX GES Sustainability Sweden Price Index OMXSUSTAINSEPI
OMX GES Sustainability Sweden Ethical Price Index OMXSUSTETHSEPI
OMX GES Ethical Nordic Index OMXETHICALNC
OMX GES Ethical Sweden Index OMXETHICALSE
OMX GES Ethical Denmark Index OMXETHICALDK
OMX GES Ethical Finland Index OMXETHICALFI
OMX GES Ethical Norway Index OMXETHICALNO
OMX GES OMXS-30 Ethical Index OMXS30ETHICPI
New ETF Listings
The following ETFs based on NASDAQ indexes listed on NASDAQ during the third quarter of 2008:
Name Ticker
PowerShares Global Agriculture Portfolio PAGG
PowerShares Global Steel Portfolio PSTL
PowerShares Global Gold & Precious Metals
Portfolio PSAU
PowerShares Global Coal Portfolio PKOL
PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation
Portfolio PTRP
PowerShares Global Biotech Portfolio PBTQ
PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio PWND
PowerShares MENA Frontier Countries Portfolio PMNA
The following ETFs based on NASDAQ indexes listed on other markets during the third quarter of 2008:
Name Ticker
PowerShares Global Agriculture Fund PSGA LN
ComStage ETF Nasdaq-100 (CBNDX GR) CBNDX GR