Global Financial Data Launches its Own Proprietary GFD Indices

Before World War I, the London Stock Exchange was at the center of the global economy. The London Stock Exchange listed thousands of domestic companies that can be used to trace the rise of the British economy through the industrial revolution. From the Canal revolution of the early 1800s to the South American bubble of the 1820s to the railroad bubble of the 1840s and on to the rise of the industrial economy in the last half of the 1800s, the UK Stocks Database allows its users to document these changes. The London Stock Exchange was truly a global stock market. The UK Stocks database also includes data on over 2500 companies from 80 countries. Companies in British colonies, or former colonies, and in countries without developed local financial markets listed their securities on the London Stock Exchange because they could raise capital in London more effectively than they could anywhere else. Foreign securities traded in London because many countries had no local stock exchange. The first Canadian shares listed in London in 1825, but the Montreal Stock Exchange didn’t open until 1874. Australian shares first listed in London in 1834, but the Melbourne stock exchange didn’t open until 1861. Using data from the London Stock Exchange, GFD will provide global historical indices on emerging markets that otherwise would be unavailable. The US Stocks Database enables its users to study similar trends in the American economy during the 1800s. After World War II, the United States stock market represented almost half the capitalization of all the stock markets in the world. The US Stocks Database includes not only data from the New York Stock Exchange, New York Curb/American Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and regional exchanges such as Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, but also data on thousands of companies that listed over-the-counter. Global Financial Data is using this extensive database to put together its own set of proprietary indices that document the changes in the global economy over the past 300 years. The indices will include not only general, sector and industry indices for the United States and the United Kingdom, but also for the countries that had shares listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. As Global Financial Data collects data from other exchanges throughout the world, it will add indices for those countries as well. GFD Indices for Russia and for Denmark have already been added. The GFD Indices will include both bond and equity indices. The GFD Indices will be available both on a daily and a monthly frequency. Data on UK stocks is available daily back to 1693. Data on US Stocks is available daily through 1903 and from 1957 to date. Monthly data is available for more companies than daily data, so monthly indices will be used to supplement the daily indices and provide broader coverage than the daily indices. Global Financial Data has share outstanding information for most companies that are included in the US and UK Databases. This will enable GFD to calculate both cap-weighted and price-weighted indices. The databases also include extensive dividend information and by calculating the effect of reinvested dividends, GFD can calculate both price and total return indices. Since the GFD Indices rely upon data on individual securities that are included in the U.S. and U.K. Stock Databases, we will provide constituent membership information so users will know which shares are used in the indices at any point in time. Users can drill down to the individual securities to see how their behavior has impacted the indices we have calculated. A special tab in the search engine is set aside for the GFD Indices. Go to the GFD Indices tab and you can discover which indices are available to subscribers. Tabs for the U.S. Stocks Database, U.K. Stocks Database and Fixed Income Securities allow you to search almost 100,000 current and historical securities that GFD provides through these databases. The GFD Indices provide a unique set of data not available from any other source. The indices provide a motherlode of information on the history of stock markets over a 300-year period from throughout the world. GFD Indices that use the U.S. Stocks Database are available to all U.S. Stock Database subscribers. GFD Indices that use the U.K. Stocks Database are available to all U.K. Stock Database subscribers. GFD Bond Indices are available to all Fixed Income Database subscribers. If you would like more information on the indices and the US Stocks Database, the UK Stocks Database, or the Fixed Income Database, please feel free to contact one of our sales representatives at 877-DATA-999 or 949-542-4200.