Saturday, July 25, 2009

Knowing Major Stock Indexes (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Modified capitalization weighting involves adjustments to the capitalizations of the various component issues of the Nasdaq-100 index. The NDX contract at the CBOE is based on Nasdaq-100 as is the MNX. The Nasdaq-100 is a modified capitalization weighted index.

Russell 2000 is the well known benchmark for small capitalization sector. Several Russell Indexes have become benchmarks for specific areas of investment management. Frank Russell Company is one of the leading global investment consultants. It is also involved in performance measurement, analysis and investment management.

Russell 3000 Index as the name implies includes 3000 issues. These 3000 companies represent 98% of the investable US equities. The index is adjusted for certain factors such as cross holdings and the number of pairs in hands.

Russell 3000 is further split into subsets like Russell 1000 Index. It covers the top 1000 about 92% of the value of the entire 3,000 stock index. The Russell 2000 Index is the smallest 2000 companies in the Russell 3000 Index.

Dow Jones is the publisher of the Wall Street journal. The Wall Street Journal is probably one of the most perfect business franchises from the business point of view. The net worth of most of its readers is in seven figures. Wall Street Journal is a franchise that is very hard to duplicate.

Over the year, DJIA became an important business barometer. It grew to encompass 30 large industrial companies. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) comprising 12 smokestack companies made its debut in the year 1896.

The DJIA is still one of the worlds best known stock measures and consists of 30 largest and most liquid blue chip stocks in the US. The average is maintained by the editors of the Wall Street Journal.

The DJIA unlike the S&P 500, Russell 3000 Indexes or the Nasdaq-100 is a price weighted average. The highest price issues hold the most influence over the average. Recently Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel were added to the DJIA.

A 1 percent move in a $90 Microsoft stock would have a greater impact than a 1 percent move in a $30 Intel stock. ETFs exit on many Dow Indexes like the DJIA, the Dow Jones Total Market Index, the Dow Jones Global Titan Index and various sector indexes.

Wilshire flagship index is the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index. Wilshire serves over 400 organizations in over 20 countries representing over $2 trillion in assets.

Over the years, it has increased to 6500 issues representing the increase in the number of companies in the US. It represents the broadest index for the US equity markets.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) database contains nearly 25,000 securities covering 50 countries. It calculates nearly 3,000 indexes daily and services a client base of over 1,200 worldwide. One of the advantages of MCSI and its foreign indexes is consistency.

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