dow jones launches global dow index

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Dow Jones & Co. launched its Global Dow Index on Tuesday in an attempt to create a blue-chip gauge for world markets, similar in design to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

As the Dow is used as shorthand for the U.S. market, so the Global Dow is intended to be for all stock markets, said John Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes.

The Global Dow is being launched at a time when the world economy has become closely interconnected. "Measuring that connection has proven to be important," said Robert Thomson, editor of the Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief of Dow Jones.

The Global Dow includes 150 companies in 25 countries, with the U.S. claiming 42% and Japan being the second largest with a weight of 10%. Emerging markets comprise less than 10%.

Thomson said these weightings would change as economies emerge.

The Global Dow represents stocks of companies that are driving the global economy today as well as those are poised to do so in the future.

Stocks in the Global Dow are equally weighted, meaning that a large cap company like Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) will have the same proportional representation in the index as the much smaller Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP).

A company considered for inclusion in the index is chosen based on a number of criteria, including its size, reputation and importance in the global economy. The Global Dow is listed under the ticker symbol (GDOW) and is down 44.2% this year as of Monday.

Dow Jones is owned by News Corp. (NWS). In addition to this and other newswires, Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's, the Far Eastern Economic Review, MarketWatch, Dow Jones Indexes and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones owns Factiva and co-owns SmartMoney with Hearst Corp. It also provides news content to CNBC television operations worldwide and to radio stations in the U.S.