STOXX Launches an Optimised Family of European Sector Indexes in Collaboration With...

STOXX Launches an Optimised Family of European Sector Indexes in Collaboration
With Source

ZURICH, Switzerland, July 14, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STOXX Limited, the
leading provider of European equity indexes, today launched the Dow Jones STOXX
600 Optimised Supersector Indexes, a new series of European sector indexes
developed in collaboration with Source, the specialist provider of
exchange-traded products founded earlier this year by Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Key factors addressed in the
construction of the new equity indexes are concentration, diversification,
liquidity and availability to borrow stocks in the index. Source has licensed 18
of the 19 sectors as index benchmarks for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which
will be launched in the coming weeks.

One of the defining features of the indexes is that they will be the first to
take into account the ability to borrow a stock in the stock lending market, a
key component in facilitating active trading in the underlying index
constituents and related products. To incorporate this unique aspect, STOXX uses
data provided by Data Explorers, an independent, leading provider of stock
lending and short interest information.

"With the launch of the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Optimised Supersector Indexes we are
taking an innovative approach to creating sector index products by focusing even
more on improved liquidity and diversification," said Ricardo Manrique, chief
executive officer, STOXX Ltd. "The even greater degree of underlying liquidity
is achieved by concepts such as applying a special liquidity weighting factor to
each component and incorporating a stock's availability to be borrowed. In
addition, a new component weighting cap scheme assures UCITS-III compliance."

Ted Hood, chief executive officer, Source, said, "we are very excited about the
new Dow Jones STOXX sector indexes and the ETFs that Source will bring to market
in the very near future. We believe that the result of this design process and
cooperation, which involved STOXX, Source and some of the largest trading
counterparties on both the buy and sell side of the markets, will offer
significant value and choice to European investors. We are very pleased to have
been a partner with STOXX in this process and we view it as a model for the
construction of new and improved indexes and exchange-traded products."

The initial index universe for the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Optimised Supersector
Indexes is the stocks in the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index. Stocks from Iceland and
Greece are then removed. The remaining stocks are ranked by two liquidity
measures: average daily turnover value (ADTV) to market free float (%ADTV
ratio); and availability to borrow. Availability to borrow data is provided by
Data Explorers. The firm analyzes daily stock lending and short interest
information gathered from borrowers, lenders and intermediaries to create a
comprehensive and up-to-date view of the securities lending market. Up to 60
stocks with the lowest liquidity are removed from the index.

The remaining stocks are then divided into the 19 Supersectors based on their
Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). Each sector is then optimized using an
innovative approach to single stock weighting. This approach applies a
sector-dependent liquidity factor against the float-adjusted market
capitalization weight of each remaining stock in the Supersector, reducing the
weight of those with high ADTV ratios while preserving the weight of those
components which are more liquid. Finally, the largest stocks in each
Supersector are capped at between 10% and 20% depending upon the number of
stocks in that sector.

The stocks are categorized into the following 19 Supersectors according to the
Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB): Automobiles & Parts, Banks, Basic
Resources, Chemicals, Construction & Materials, Financial Services, Food &
Beverage, Health Care, Industrial Goods & Services, Insurance, Media, Oil & Gas,
Personal & Household Goods, Real Estate, Retail, Technology, Telecommunications,
Travel & Leisure and Utilities.

The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Optimised Supersector Indexes are available in price and
total return versions, and are reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and
December. The indexes are weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization. The
indexes are calculated in euro and U.S. dollar.

The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Optimised Supersector Indexes cover 16 European
countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the
United Kingdom.

Further information on the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Optimised Supersector is
available at www.stoxx.com.

Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to
PR-Indexes@dowjones.com.

For further information on Source journalists may contact:

Source: Ted Hood, Peter Thompson, Michael John Lytle: +44 20 3370 1100
Waughton: Robin Hepburn, Bill Spears: +44 20 7796 9999
The STOXX logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2848

-0-
CONTACT: Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX press offices
New York:
+1-212-597-5720
Frankfurt:
+49-69-29725-290
Hong Kong:
+852-800-969-336
Singapore:
+65-6-4154-299