Dow Jones to Introduce New Leading Economic Indicator

Tracks Media References to the Economy to Anticipate Economic Performance

Historical Analysis Shows It Forecasted 2001 and 2008 Recessions, 1992 and
2002 Recoveries

NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire/ --

What: Introduction of the Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator
(ESI), which testing has shown to be a leading indicator of a
variety of measures of U.S. economic performance, based on the
relative positive and negative tone of economic reporting in 15
major daily newspapers.

The ESI is expressed on a numerical scale from 0 to 100, with a
higher number reflecting a more optimistic sentiment in economic
references.

The ESI represents one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching
examinations of media economic coverage as an economic indicator.
It's based on an analysis of more than five million articles
referencing the U.S. economy since 1990.

When: 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time, April 30, 2009, and the last business
day of each month thereafter. When a month ends on a weekend or
a holiday, the ESI will be released at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time on
the following Monday.

Where: To be distributed via PR Newswire and also available April 30th at
9:45 a.m. on the Dow Jones Web site
http://solutions.dowjones.com/ESI.

Who: Dow Jones, a leading provider of global business news and
information services that includes The Wall Street Journal,
Barron's, MarketWatch, Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva,
Dow Jones Insight, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial
Information Services.

Why: In extensive back-testing, the ESI has proven to be a reliable
leading indicator of a variety of measures of U.S. economic
performance as well as of other popular economic indexes. When
operating as a leading indicator, the ESI has tended to move up
or down in advance of changes in key measures of economic
performance.

SOURCE Dow Jones

Rob Thibault, Office: +1-609-627-2680, Mobile: +1-609-216-4780,
robert.thibault@dowjones.com