The oldest index in Germany is now complemented by a family of stock indices dedicated to the euro zone. The partners Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Baader Bank and Structured Solutions launch 11 new quotation barometers which are being published in real time. A broad index of the euro zone and a total of ten industry indices are offered.

The established equity indices with a focus on Europe are strongly based on the current stock market environment and the current market values of the companies in Europe. This strict capital market orientation sometimes leads to a significant over- or under-representation of certain countries, compared to their economic weight. The construction of the new Europe equity index family stands out from this approach as in the index the weights of the individual countries are set in accordance with their respective national gross domestic products. This leads to significant differences in the composition compared to the established benchmark indices for Europe. To transfer these thoughts to the industry indices, in those not only the market values of the companies are used; instead from each country at least one company is chosen. This ensures a balanced representation of the entire euro area and prevents the concentration on a few countries.

The F.A.Z. Euro Index covers 100 companies that are equally weighted on the annual adjustment days. The sector indices consist of 25 shares which are also equally weighted. Also this sets the concept apart from the strict capital market context of other Europe indices and represents Europe from a more fundamental perspective. In the historical backtest it turns out that the concept leads to an outperformance to indices which are purely based on financial market data.
The indices are calculated by Structured Solutions on every trading day from 09:00am to 06:00pm and distributed through the usual data vendors. All compositions and weightings are freely available. Every quotation barometer is offered as a price index as well as a total return index calculated in Euro.
Three issuers have already signaled that they will shortly launch financial products linked to the indices.