Financial Times Stock Exchange International entered the post-euro European benchmark melee on June 14 with the launch of its FTSE EStars index.

Recent months have seen the launches of a plethora of new funds, as well as the announcements of an equally large number of impending launches.

A new index was launched Sept. 8 by Dow Jones Indexes and Zurich-based researcher Sustain-able Asset Management to measure the world's socially responsible companies that offer long-term returns.

On July 27, Dow Jones Indexes launched its Asia Pacific Extra Liquid Series (AP/ELS), which currently includes indexes based on Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.

Dow Jones AP/ELS is a set of equity indexes designed for retail and institutional investors seeking index-linked investments in the Asia Pacific region. The indexes are constructed using the largest, most liquid stocks in each country's market. They were designed with the assistance of the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE).

Index providers Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. and Standard & Poor's have gotten together to introduce a new "classification standard" for grouping industries for stock research and for use in stock-index investments.

Dow Jones launched a 50-stock benchmark index of the world's largest multinational companies on June 1. The first of its kind, the Dow Jones Global Titans Index is a response to the growing importance placed by professional investors on giant multinationals.

John C. Bogle, Vanguard Group's founder and senior chairman, may be asked to retire from the giant fund group's board, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Stoxx Ltd. launched two new tickers to cover the Scandinavian and Nordic markets on July 1 in an exclusive pact with Helsinki's stock exchange.

The Dow Jones Stoxx Nordic covers 118 companies in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. All stocks in the broad index are taken directly from those currently in the Dow Jones Stoxx index of 620 companies.