Dow Jones U.S. Economic Stimulus Index^SM

Since its launch in May 2009, the Dow Jones U.S. Economic Stimulus Index^SM has outperformed more-broadly defined indexes. The stimulus index seems to be reflecting the market's expectation that U.S. government stimulus efforts will have a long-term positive effect on key investment segments.

For the three months ended August 24, on a total return basis, the U.S. Economic Stimulus Index^SM gained 19.37% versus 16.72% for the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index^SM, which is a measure of the complete U.S. investable universe. The comparison is even more marked when comparing it with the Dow Jones Industrial AverageSM, which gained 15.55% on a total return basis.

So, while the broad equity markets saw significant gains across the board during this period, the Economic Stimulus index, designed to track potential beneficiaries of U.S. government stimulus dollars, advanced as much as 380 additional basis points.

The index measures the performance of leading U.S. companies drawn from industries that are expected to receive stimulus dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The 50-stock Dow Jones U.S. Economic Stimulus Index^SM seeks to capture the "momentum" of the U.S. economic stimulus package and its effect on the largest and most liquid stocks from six economic segments: Alternative Energy, Construction & Materials, Energy Grid, Environment, Technology, Telecom/Internet.