BNP Paribas Launches Two New ETFs

The Dow Jones Luxury Index is a new index designed to measure the market performance of companies worldwide that derive a sizeable portion of revenues from providing “luxury” goods and services.   That index – and the existing Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index – have been licensed to BNP Paribas to serve as the basis for two exchange-traded funds. Both the EasyETF DJ Luxury and EasyETF STOXX 600 are available today at Euronext, according to a press release.

The Dow Jones Luxury Index tracks the performance of 30 companies selected by editors of The Wall Street Journal. The editors choose stocks that reflect a diversified cross-section of the luxury segment across countries, sectors and market capitalization.    It is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization and component weights are capped at 10% of the index. Composition changes to the index are made on an as-needed basis, while share numbers and float-adjustment factors are updated quarterly.

Components

As of June 20, 2008, the Dow Jones Luxury Index is up 6.71% since its inception on January 2, 2006. The top three components by float-adjusted market capitalization are:

• Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A.,
• LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and
• Porsche Automobil Holding SE.

The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index, an existing index designed to provide a broad yet liquid representation of large, mid and small capitalization companies in 18 European countries, is up 9.73% in the same time period listed above.  

The index covers Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

More information on the Dow Jones Luxury Index can be found online at