Index Description


Overview – Manager composite returns are gross of all fees. Actual investor returns may vary from the composite returns presented. Mutual fund and alternative investment (hedge fund) returns are net of all fees.

The indices are presented for comparison purposes only. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The indices assume reinvestment of dividends and do not reflect deduction of any fees or expenses. The volatility of the managers and mutual funds can be higher or lower than the volatility of the indices shown. Past performance is not necessary indicative of future results.

Alerian MLP – The Alerian MLP Index is a composite of the 50 most prominent energy master limited partnerships calculated by Standard & Poor's using a float-adjusted market capitalization methodology. The objective of the Alerian MLP Index is to provide investors with an unbiased, comprehensive benchmark for the performance of the energy master limited partnership universe.

BarCap 1-3 Year Government Index – The Barclays 1-3 year Government Index is comprised of debt securities issued by the US Treasury and US Government agencies with maturities of one to three years.

BarCap US TIPS – The Barclays US Treasury TIPS Index is a gauge of the inflation protected obligations of US Treasury. The index includes all publicly-issued US Treasury inflation protected securities that have at least one year remaining to maturity, rated investment grade and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value. The TIPS included in the index must be denominated in US dollars and must be fixed-rate and non-convertible. The index is market capitalization weighted, with the securities being updated on the last calendar day of each month.

BarCap Aggregate Bond Index – The BarCap Aggregate Bond Index is composed of the BarCap Government/Corporate Index, the BarCap Mortgage-Backed Securities Index, and the BarCap Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) Index. The BarCap Aggregate Bond Index includes fixed rate debt issues rated investment grade or higher by Moody's Investor's Service, Standard and Poor's Corporation, or Fitch Investor's Service, in that order. It also includes Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities. Bonds or securities included must be fixed rate, although they can carry a coupon that steps up or changes according to a predetermined schedule; must be dollar-denominated and nonconvertible; and must be publicly issued. All returns are market value weighted inclusive of accrued interest.

BarCap Corporate Bond Index – The BarCap Corporate Bond Index tracks all publicly issued, fixed-rate, nonconvertible, dollar denominated, SEC registered, investment grade corporate debt.

BarCap High Yield Muni Bond Index – The BarCap High Yield Muni Bond Index covers the high yield USD-denominated long term tax exempt bond market. The index has four main sectors: state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds, and prerefunded bonds. The high-yield indix has a maximum rating of Ba1/BB+/BB+ using the middle rating of Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, respectively.

BarCap Intermediate Gov’t/Credit Index – The BarCap Intermediate Government/Credit Index is composed of the BarCap Intermediate Government Bond Index and the BarCap Intermediate Credit Index. The BarCap Government Bond Index is composed of the BarCap Treasury Bond Index (all public obligations of the U.S. Treasury, excluding flower bonds and foreign-targeted issues), and the BarCap Agency Index (all publicly issued debt of U.S. Government agencies and quasi-federal corporations, and corporate debt guaranteed by the U.S. Government. Mortgage backed securities are not included in the Agency Index.). The BarCap Credit Index includes all publicly issued, fixed rate, nonconvertible investment grade dollar-denominated, SEC-registered corporate debt.

BarCap US Credit Index – The Barclays Capital US Credit Index measures performance of investment grade corporate debt and sovereign, supranational, local authority and non-US agency bonds that are US dollar denominated and have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to 1 year.

BarCap US Agg Securitized MBS – The Barclays Capital US MBS Index is a performance gauge of the investment grade fixed rate mortgage backed pass through securities of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC). The index includes such agency securities that have 30-year, 15-year and balloon maturities with at least one year remaining. The securities must be investment grade and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value. The securities in the index must be denominated in US dollars and must be fixed-rate and non-convertible. The index is market capitalization weighted, with the securities being updated on the last calendar day of each month.

BarCap US Agg Credit Corp High Yield – The BarCap US Agg Credit Corp High Yield Index covers the USD-denominated, non-investment grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high-yield if the middle rating of Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below. The index excludes Emerging Markets debt.

BarCap 1-Year Municipal Bond Index – The BarCap 1-Year Municipal Bond Index is composed of all municipal bonds that meet the following criteria: the original issue of securities must have been for at least $50 million, of which $3 million must still be outstanding; and, the remaining maturity of the bonds in the portfolio must be between 0-2 years.

BarCap 3 Year Municipal Bond Index – The BarCap 3-Year Municipal Bond Index is composed of all municipal bonds that meet the following criteria: the original issue of securities must have been for at least $50 million, of which $3 million must still be outstanding; and, the remaining maturity of the bonds in the portfolio must be between 2-4 years.

BarCap 5 Year Municipal Bond Index – The BarCap 5-Year Municipal Bond Index is composed of all municipal bonds that meet the following criteria: the original issue of securities must have been for at least $50 million, of which $3 million must still be outstanding; and, the remaining maturity of the bonds in the portfolio must be four to six years.

BarCap 7 Year Municipal Bond Index – The BarCap 7-Year Municipal Bond Index is composed of all municipal bonds that meet the following criteria: the original issue of securities must have been for at least $50 million, of which $3 million must still be outstanding; and, the remaining maturity of the bonds in the portfolio must be six to eight years.

BofA ML All US Convertible ex. Mandatory – The BofA Merrill Lynch All U.S. Convertibles Index is comprised of approximately 700 issues of convertible bonds and preferreds of all qualities, excluding mandatories. Members of the index must satisfy the following criteria: USD denominated and sold into the US market; publically traded in the US; >$50 mm aggregate market value at issuance; not currently in bankruptcy and convertible into USD-denominated common stock, ADRs or cash equivalents.

BofA ML US High Yield BB/B Rated Constrained – The BofA Merrill Lynch US High Yield BB/B Rated Constrained Index is a subset of The BofA Merrill Lynch US High Yield Index including all securities rated BB1 through B3, inclusive. The BofA Merrill Lynch US High Yield Index tracks the performance of U.S. dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market. Qualifying securities must have a below investment grade rating (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch) and an investment grade rated country of risk (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch foreign currency long term sovereign debt ratings). In addition, qualifying securities must have at least one year remaining term to final maturity, a fixed coupon schedule and a minimum amount outstanding of $100 million. Original issue zero coupon bonds, "global" securities (debt issued simultaneously in the eurobond and U.S. domestic bond markets), 144a securities and pay-in-kind securities, including toggle notes, qualify for inclusion in the Index. Callable perpetual securities qualify provided they are at least one year from the first call date. Fixed-to-floating rate securities also qualify provided they are callable within the fixed rate period and are at least one year from the last call prior to the date the bond transitions from a fixed to a floating rate security. DRD-eligible and defaulted securities are excluded from the Index.

Citigroup 1-Month Treasury Bill – The Citigroup 1-Month Treasury Bill Index measures the total return for the current one-month Treasury bill.

Dow Jones Credit Suisse Managed Futures Hedge Fund Index – The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Managed Futures Hedge Fund Index is a subset of the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index that measures the aggregate performance of managed futures funds. Managed futures funds (often referred to as CTAs or Commodity Trading Advisors) typically focus on investing in listed bond, equity, commodity futures and currency markets, globally. Managers tend to employ systematic trading programs that largely rely upon historical price data and market trends. A significant amount of leverage may be employed since the strategy involves the use of futures contracts. CTAs tend not to have a particular bias towards being net long or net short any particular market.

Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index – The Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index (DJ-UBSCI – formerly the the Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index DJ-AIGCI) is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for commodities as an asset class. The DJ-UBSCI is designed to provide weightings that reflect economic significance, diversification, low volatility, annual re-weighting and rebalancing, and liquidity. The DJ-UBSCI is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities. Unlike equities, which entitle the holder to a continuing stake in a corporation, commodity futures contracts specify a delivery date for the underlying physical commodity. In order to avoid delivery and maintain a long futures position, nearby contracts must be sold and contracts that have not yet reached the delivery period must be purchased. This process is known as "rolling" a futures position. The DJ-UBSCI is a "rolling Index."

The DJ-UBSCI family of indices includes both the DJ-UBSCI (which is calculated on an excess return basis) and a total return index based on the DJ-UBSCI (the DJ-UBSCITR). While the former reflects the return of its underlying commodity price movements only, the latter reflects the return on a fully collateralized investment in the index. In addition, there are seven sub-indices representing the major commodity sectors within the index: Energy (including petroleum and natural gas), Petroleum (including crude oil, heating oil and unleaded gasoline), Precious Metals, Industrial Metals, Grains, Livestock and Softs.

FTSE RAFI Developed ex US 1000 Index – The FTSE Group, in partnership with Research Affiliates, constructed FTSE RAFI Developed ex US 1000 Index, which is a non-market cap weighted index, determined using four fundamental factors rather than market capitalization. These factors include total cash dividends, free cash flow, total sales and book equity value. The FTSE RAFI Developed ex US 1000 Index comprises the largest 1000 non US-listed companies by fundamental value, selected from the constituents of the FTSE Developed ex US Index. The FTSE RAFI Developed ex US 1000 Index is divided into 23 separate country indexes, made up of the stocks from each country represented amongst the constituents of the FTSE RAFI Developed ex US 1000 Index.

FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index – The FTSE Group, in partnership with Research Affiliates, constructed FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index which is a non-market cap weighted index, determined using four fundamental factors rather than market capitalization. These factors include total cash dividends, free cash flow, total sales and book equity value. The FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index comprises the largest 1000 US-listed companies by fundamental value, selected from the constituents of the FTSE US All Cap Index, part of the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS).

HFRI Equity Hedge Index – The HFRI Equity Hedge Index tracks managers maintain positions both long and short in primarily equity and equity derivative securities. A wide variety of investment processes can be employed to arrive at an investment decision, including both quantitative and fundamental techniques; strategies can be broadly diversified or narrowly focused on specific sectors and can range broadly in terms of levels of net exposure, leverage employed, holding period, concentrations of market capitalizations and valuation ranges of typical portfolios. Equity Hedge managers would typically maintain at least 50% exposure to, and may in some cases be entirely invested in, equities – both long and short.

HFRI Event Driven Index – The HFRI Event Driven Index tracks managers who maintain positions in companies currently or prospectively involved in corporate transactions of a wide variety including but not limited to mergers, restructurings, financial distress, tender offers, shareholder buybacks, debt exchanges, security issuance or other capital structure adjustments. Security types can range from most senior in the capital structure to most junior or subordinated, and frequently involve additional derivative securities. Event Driven exposure includes a combination of sensitivities to equity markets, credit markets and idiosyncratic, company specific developments. Investment theses are typically predicated on fundamental characteristics (as opposed to quantitative), with the realization of the thesis predicated on a specific development exogenous to the existing capital structure.

HFRI FOF: Conservative Index – The HFRI Fund of Funds: Conservative index follows managers within the fund of fund universe who exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: seeks consistent returns by primarily investing in funds that generally engage in more "conservative" strategies such as Equity Market Neutral, Fixed Income Arbitrage, and Convertible Arbitrage; exhibits a lower historical annual standard deviation than the HFRI Fund of Funds Composite Index. A fund in the HFRI FOF Conservative Index shows generally consistent performance regardless of market conditions.

HFRI FOF: Diversified Index – The HFRI Fund of Funds: Diversified Index includes Fund of Funds that exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: invests in a variety of strategies among multiple managers; historical annual return and/or a standard deviation generally similar to the HFRI Fund of Fund Composite index; demonstrates generally close performance and returns distribution correlation to the HFRI Fund of Fund Composite Index. A fund in the HFRI FOF Diversified Index tends to show minimal loss in down markets while achieving superior returns in up markets.

iBoxx $ High Yield Index – The iBoxx $ High Yield Index is a rules-based index consisting of the most liquid and tradable US high yield corporate bonds. It is designed to be a balanced representation of the US high yield corporate bond market via the most liquid instruments available in the market. The index consists of sub-investment grade US dollar denominated bonds issued by corporate issuers and rated by at least one of three rating services: Moody’s, Standard & Poors, or Fitch Ratings. To be included in the index, bonds must have at least three years and six months remaining time to maturing when joining the index. The outstanding face value of a bond must be greater than or equal to $200 million, and the issuer or issuer’s guarantor must be domiciled in the US, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Canada, Japan or Western Europe. Debt issued by governments, sovereigns, quasi-sovereigns, and government backed or guaranteed entities is excluded. The number of high yield issues in the index is generally 50, though this will vary somewhat over time. The index is rebalanced monthly at month end. All 50 bonds are equally price weighted in returns.

iBoxx Liquid Investment Grade Index – The iBoxx Liquid Investment Grade Index consists of the 100 most liquid US dollar investment grade bonds selected to represent the US investment grade corporate sector. It is designed to be a balanced representation of the US investment grade corporate bond market via the most liquid instruments available in the market. The index consists of investment grade US dollar denominated bonds issued by corporate issuers and rated by at least one of three rating services: Moody’s, Standard & Poors, or Fitch Ratings. To be included in the index, new bonds must have at least three years and six months remaining time to maturing when joining the index, and existing index constituents must have three years minimum time to maturity. The outstanding face value of a bond must be greater than or equal to $500 million, and the issuer or issuer’s guarantor must be domiciled in the US, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Canada, Japan or Western Europe. Debt issued by governments, sovereigns, quasi-sovereigns, and government backed or guaranteed entities is excluded.

JP Morgan ELMI+ – The JP Morgan ELMI+ Index tracks total returns for local-currency-denominated money market instruments in 23 emerging markets countries. The index is limited to large, active emerging local markets accessible to foreign investors through onshore of offshore money market instruments. The ELMI+ portfolio consists of FX forwards, wherever possible, to represent a country’s money market. For those countries without developed FX forward markets, either deposits or Treasury bills are used. A “ladder” construction methodology is used, whereby three instruments with maturities of one, two, and three months are included for each index country. Duration will generally drift between one and two months.

Countries’ initial index allocation is derived from their relative export and import levels, to which a series of caps are applied to reflect accessibility and liquidity in each market.

JP Morgan GBI Global – The JP Morgan Government Bond Index Global is a comprehensive measure of local currency denominated fixed rate government debt of developed countries. The GBI Global index is a subset of the GBI Broad index, designated “Global” because the index only includes the investable portion of the benchmark. Only bonds with maturities of 13 months or greater are included in the GBI indices. The index is available on both a hedged and unhedged basis.

JP Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified – The JP Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Indices are comprehensive emerging markets debt benchmarks that track local currency bonds issued by emerging markets governments. The GBI-EM Global Diversified index is a subset of the GBI-EM Broad index, designated “Global” because the index only includes the investable portion of the benchmark (countries with explicit capital controls are excluded) and “Diversified” because the weightings between the 13 countries in the GBI-EM Global index are more evenly distributed. Only bonds with maturities of 13 months or greater are included in the GBI-EM indices.

MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index – The MSCI AC (All Country) Asia ex Japan Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan. The MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index consists of the consists of the following 12 developed and emerging market countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) – The MSCI ACWI Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance in the global developed and emerging markets. The MSCI ACWI includes all countries represented in the MSCI EAFE Index plus Canada, the United States, and emerging markets.

MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ex. US – The MSCI ACWI ex-US Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure large and mid cap equity market performance in the global developed and emerging markets, excluding the US. The MSCI ACWI ex. US Index includes all countries represented in the MSCI EAFE Index plus Canada and emerging markets.

MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ex. US SMID – The MSCI ACWI ex-US Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure small and mid cap equity market performance in the global developed and emerging markets, excluding the US. The MSCI ACWI ex. US Index includes all countries represented in the MSCI EAFE Index plus Canada and emerging markets.

MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ex. US IMI – The MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance in the global developed and emerging markets across all capitalizations, excluding the US. The MSCI ACWI ex. US IMI Index includes all countries represented in the MSCI EAFE Index plus Canada and emerging markets.

MSCI EAFE Index – The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure large and mid cap equity market performance in the global developed markets of Europe and Asia/Pacific.

MSCI EAFE SMID Index – The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) SMID is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure small and mid cap equity market performance in the global developed markets of Europe and Asia/Pacific. MSCI Emerging Markets Index The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure large and mid cap equity market performance in emerging market countries.

Russell 1000 Index – The Russell 1000 Index measures performance of the large cap U.S. equity universe. The Russell 1000 is constructed to provide a comprehensive and unbiased barometer for the large cap segment and is completely reconstituted annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected. The Russell 1000 includes the largest 1,000 securities in the Russell 3000 index.

Russell 1000 Growth and Value Indices – The Russell 1000 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with higher book-to-price ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 1000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with lower book-to-price ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Russell 2000 Index – The Russell 2000 Index is one of the better known indices used to measure the performance of U.S. small company stocks. Frank Russell Company constructs the Russell 3000 Index by selecting the 3,000 largest companies headquartered in the United States. The 1,000 largest stocks become the Russell 1000 and the remaining stocks become the Russell 2000 Index. The Russell 2000 Index is market capitalization weighted and currently represents approximately 11% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index.

Russell 2000 Growth and Value Indices – The Russell 2000 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with higher book-to-price ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 2000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with lower book-to-price ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Russell 2500 Index – The Russell 2500 Index measures the performance of the small to mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe, commonly referred to as "smid" cap. The Russell 2500 Index is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index. It includes approximately 2500 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership.

Russell 2500 Growth and Value Indices – The Russell 2500 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 2500 companies with higher book-to-price ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 2500 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 2500 companies with lower book-to-price ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Russell 3000 Index – The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3000 U.S. companies representing approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. The Russell 3000 Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive, unbiased, and stable barometer of the broad market and is completely reconstituted annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected.

Russell 3000 Growth and Value Indices – The Russell 3000 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 3000 companies with higher book-to-price ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 3000 Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 3000 companies with lower book-to-price ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Russell Microcap Index – The Russell Microcap Index measures the performance of the microcap segment of the U.S. equity market, representing less than 3% of the total market capitalization. The Russell Microcap Index includes the smallest 1,000 securities in the Russell 2000 Index plus the next 1,000 smallest securities in terms of market capitalization.

Russell Midcap Index – The Russell Midcap Index measures the performance of the mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Russell Midcap Index is a subset of the Russell 1000® Index. It includes approximately 800 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell Midcap Index represents approximately 31% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 1000 companies.

Russell Midcap Growth and Value Indices – The Russell Midcap Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell Midcap companies with higher book-to-price ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell Midcap Value Index measures the performance of those Russell Midcap companies with lower book-to-price ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) – The 500 stocks in the S&P 500 Index are selected by a Standard and Poor’s selection committee and are based on industry representation, liquidity, and company stability. The stocks in the S&P 500 are not the 500 largest companies in the United States, but instead are designed to capture the returns of many different sectors of the U.S. economy. The Index is market capitalization weighted.

Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 Index (S&P 600) – The 600 stocks in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index are selected by a Standard and Poor’s selection committee and are based on industry representation, liquidity, and company stability. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a market capitalization weighted index that tracks the performance of 600 U.S. based companies with market capitalizations between $300 million and $2 billion.

S&P/Citigroup U.S. Growth and Value Indices – As of December 19, 2005, the S&P/Citigroup Style Index series (based on the S&P/Citigroup style methodology) officially replaced the corresponding S&P/Barra Style Index series for the S&P 500, S&P MidCap, and S&P SmallCap indices. The S&P/Citigroup Style Index series are market capitalization weighted and exhaustive, dividing the market capitalization of each parent Index into growth and value indices. Stocks that do not have pure growth or pure value characteristics will have their market capitalization distributed between the growth and value indices. The Citigroup indices utilize a multi-factor construction methodology.

S&P Diversified Trends Indicator (S&P DTI) – The Standard & Poor’s Diversified Trends Indicator (S&P DTI) strives to benefit from trends in either direction, long or short (except for the energy sector contracts, which cannot have a short position). The composite of the S&P DTI is equally divided between physical commodities and financials and is further diversified across 24 commodities and financial futures contracts from 14 sectors from around the world. Commodity sector weights are based on generally known world production levels, while financial weights are generally but not solely based on GDP. Each of the sector components are chosen based on fundamental characteristics and liquidity. The benchmarks sector allocation is rebalanced on a monthly basis, while the components are reviewed on an annual basis.

U.S. One-Year Treasury Index – The U.S. One-Year Treasury Index uses the Treasury bill that is currently on the run at the beginning of the month. For all months, the maturity of the Treasury Bill was eight months or longer. The price of the bond for the period was calculated by solving the following formula:

Price = 100* (yield in decimal form*term to maturity indays/360 days)

Prior to 1969, the Index was calculated using a Treasury bond, note, bill, or certificate with a maturity of 8 to 16 months remaining. Only non-callable securities that did not have to be ruled bank eligible were used. The Index considered all bonds that meet these guidelines, and chose the one whose maturity was closest to one year.