Index goes for gold

Dow Jones Indexes of New York continues to add components to its 2008 Summer Games Index, which measures the performance of the official partners, sponsors and suppliers of the 29th Olympic Summer Games in Beijing. The index now includes 37 companies, after adding Visa Inc. of San Francisco March 19. Companies listed in the index are ranked by market capitalization, and the index composition is reviewed on a regular basis, said John Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes. Other U.S. companies listed in the index include The Coca-Cola Co. of Atlanta, General Electric Co. of Fairfield, Conn., and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. "The Olympic Games index is something that is going to bring a little fun into indexing," Mr. Prestbo said. "This type of index is not something that we sit down and strategize," he said. "We came up with the index after we read the papers and the opportunity presented itself." The games begin Aug. 8 and the index will continue to be tracked even after the Olympic torch is extinguished Aug. 24, Mr. Prestbo said. Some investment banks have showed some interest in eventually using the index as a basis for a product, though he said that it isn't intended to be a "giant home run money maker." Indexes related to sports are nothing new for Dow Jones Indexes and have become quite popular, Mr. Prestbo said. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx Football (Soccer) Index is frequently cited in news stories, and sports writers get a kick out of comparing the teams' stock prices to their performance, he said. Additionally, the Dow Jones Stoxx Grand Prix Index tracks companies that are involved in Formula 1 racing.