KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., a leading provider of social research services for institutional investors, and The Nasdaq Stock Market today announced the launch of the KLD-Nasdaq SocialSM Index (KLD-NSI), the first socially screened index of Nasdaq companies.
The KLD-NSI is a market-value weighted index reflecting the performance of the largest Nasdaq listed US corporations in major sectors of the market, including technology, financial, and telecommunications. Based on the Nasdaq Composite Index, the KLD-NSI is the first index to unite the popular Nasdaq family of indexes with the growing demand for socially responsible investment products.
"The KLD- Nasdaq Index provides investors exposure to sectors of the marketplace with strong growth potential," said Zoë Van Schyndel, KLD Senior Vice President of Research Products. "With this new option available in the socially responsible investing marketplace, investors now have socially responsible alternatives for any type of investment strategy they would like to follow."
"We are thrilled to be associated with KLD in launching the KLD/Nasdaq Social Index," said John Jacobs, Senior Vice President – World Wide Marketing and Financial Products at The Nasdaq Stock Market. "KLD is one of the foremost social index providers and Nasdaq is the home of many of the most progressive and responsible high growth companies in the world. We believe that makes for a strong partnership and a significant investment product opportunity".
To construct the KLD-NSI, KLD applied an array of social and environmental criteria to Nasdaq Composite domestic companies with over $1 billion in market capitalization. KLD’s measurement of corporate social performance includes evaluation of a company’s environmental stewardship, employee relations, non-US operations and its involvement in the tobacco industry, among other issues. Only companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market are eligible for inclusion on the KLD-NSI.
Among the top ten holdings of the KLD-NSI index are Oracle Corp. (ORCL), a computer software and systems producer, which has notably strong diversity policies; Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), a biotech research and production company with exceptional community involvement programs, and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), a communications technology firm to which KLD has assigned a strength rating for its employee involvement policies.
