Introducing the BBC Global 30

By Tim Weber
BBC News Online business editor

Where is the economy going? With oil prices high, trade talks bogged down and global growth uncertain, tools to test the health of global business are at a premium.

Now there is a new instrument to take the pulse of the world's economy: the BBC Global 30 index, calculated by FTSE.

BBC GLOBAL 30 INDUSTRIES Oil and gas Basic materials Industrials Consumer goods Health care Consumer services Telecommunications Utilities Financials Technology

We look at the three economic powerhouses of the world - Europe, Asia and the Americas. In each region, companies are sorted in 10 industry sectors.

Then from each sector in each region, we take the largest company by stock market value.

This gives us the 30 firms of the BBC Global 30 index.

Designed to capture the economic mood of the industrialised world, it combines a wide range of industries with a broad regional spread.

As a result, the BBC Global 30 is not dominated by the usual suspects - mega banks, conglomerates and oil giants.

And it tracks stock markets throughout the day - from market open in Japan to the close of trading on Wall Street.

We also take the long-term view.

Unlike many other indexes, which quickly drop the losers and take in the winners, the constituents of the BBC Global 30 will be revised only once a year, in June, according to strict rules.

We hope you like our new index, and that it will quickly become a useful instrument for you to gauge where the world's globalised economy is heading.

Click here to see the BBC Global 30

The current index constituents are:

Europe

• BASF (Germany)
• BP (UK)
• Enel (Italy)
• HSBC Holdings (UK)
• Nestle (Switzerland)
• Nokia (Finland)
• Novartis (Switzerland)
• Siemens (Germany)
• Tesco (UK)
• Vodafone Group (UK)

Asia

• BHP Billiton (Australia)
• Canon (Japan)
• CNOOC (Hong Kong red chip)
• Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong)
• Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial (Japan)
• NTT Docomo (Japan)
• News Corp (Australia)
• Takeda Pharmaceutical (Japan)
• Tokyo Electric Power (Japan)
• Toyota Motor (Japan)

Americas

• Citigroup (USA)
• Du Pont de Nemours (USA)
• Exelon (USA)
• Exxon Mobil (USA)
• General Electric (USA)
• Microsoft (USA)
• Pfizer (USA)
• Procter & Gamble (USA)
• Verizon Communications (USA)
• Wal-Mart Stores (USA)