ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 28, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STOXX Limited, the leading provider of European equity indexes, today announced that the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index has been selected by The Conference Board, the world's preeminent business membership and research organization, to represent the stock market component of its new Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the Euro Area.
The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index is a broad representation of large-, mid- and small-capitalization companies in 12 Eurozone countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the Euro Area is one of a series of indexes designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycles of 10 countries and regions. These indicators are used by C-suite executives, senior management professionals and economists in leading corporations worldwide.
"STOXX Limited was the first index provider to launch pan-European indexes back in 1998. Since then the 'EURO STOXX' name has become synonymous with measuring the performance of equity markets in the Eurozone. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Indexes are the trusted and preferred index family among market participants seeking an accurate, transparent and objective stock market representation for the region. The index also serves as the underlying for two Europe-based exchange-traded funds," said Ricardo Manrique, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd. "The Conference Board's decision to use the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index for its new business cycle indicator recognizes the broad index's significance and acceptance by the investment community."
"The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index provides consistent coverage of more than 300 Euro Area equities, has been compiled over a long history, and has proven to be a reliable indicator of expected firm performance and valuations of the business sector in the Euro Area," said Bart van Ark, chief economist of The Conference Board.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the Euro Area and its companion Coincident Economic Index (CEI) for the Euro Area aggregate various economic statistics, such as money supply, manufacturing data, yield spreads and stock market performance, to identify cyclical turning points in the single-currency zone's economy. Historically, the cyclical turning points in the Leading Economic Index have occurred before those in aggregate economic activity, while the cyclical turning points in the coincident index have occurred at about the same time as those in aggregate economic activity. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index will represent the stock prices portion of the leading index.
Launched on June 15, 1998, the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index is a broad, liquid subset of the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization and measures a variable number of components across large-, mid- and small-cap size segments. Daily history is available back to December 31, 1991, and the index is reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and December.
For more information on the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index, please visit the STOXX Limited Web site at www.stoxx.com. For more information on The Conference Board Leading Economic Indexes, please visit www.conference-board.org.
The STOXX logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2848
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com.