'Terror free' index to debut

The FTSE Group and Conflict Securities Advisory Group, Inc. have teamed up to roll out a Terror-Free Index Series. The FTSE CSAG Terror-Free Index Series will be issued to institutional investors on March 31 and is expected to be available on the retail side in the late spring. The platform contains three indexes that screen out 600 publicly traded non-U.S companies who have non-humanitarian business ties with Iran, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea. The State Department has listed all these countries as “sponsors of terrorism.” Individual investors will be able to utilize the new platform in late May or early June when Northern Trust Corp. plans to roll out three exchanged traded funds that utilize the index. At a press meeting today to announce the product, to FTSE Americas president Jerry Moskowitz said that despite excluded companies, the firm predicts only a 1/10 of 1% drop in performance from its standard index with less volatility. “It looks like the best of both worlds,” said Mr. Moskowitz.