Despite the recent market volatility and downward move in the major market averages with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing below 10,000; the actively managed <font> HavRx Regulatory Catalyst Index </font> <font> has posted a gain exceeding 100% in the past year. Other notable returns among the 17 passively managed sub-sector, niche healthcare and transport indexes since June 2009 performance tracking on an equal-weight basis at Investars YOU include small / micro-cap cancer diagnostic / therapeutic companies, generic drugs, health benefit providers, hospitals / healthcare facilities, the railroad industry, air transport stocks, and the tobacco industry. </font> <font> </font> <font> </font> <font> The largest companies in the healthcare sector have posted weak returns, with the HavRx Life Science leaders of 25 stocks posting a 12% decline over the past six months. However, the niche sub-sector indexes comprised of small and mid-cap stocks have posted strong returns, highlighting the advantages of a selective investing strategy to outpace the overall market and sector returns based on industry groups with solid fundamental growth and those driving medical innovation. </font> <font> Over the past year, the returns of sector-based exchange-traded funds include Healthcare Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLV) (+10.3%), Consumer Staples Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLP) (+12.8%), and iShares Dow Transports (NYSE:IYT) (+31.1%). Notable sub-sector ETFs over the past year include Claymore/NYSE Arca Passenger Airlines (NYSE:FAA) (+75%), iShares NASDAQ Biotech (NASDAQ:IBB) (+18.7%), iShares Dow Jones US Medical Devices (NYSE:IHI) (+30%), and PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Services (NYSE:PTJ) (+31.6%). </font> <font> In addition to the global equity indexes outlined above, </font> <font> my article at Seeking Alpha from December 2008 </font> <font> outlines an idea for an index to define an equal-weight composite index to track global coal prices comprised of near-month futures from each of the major coal exporting regions in the world, including (1) NYMEX US Central Appalachian Coal [QL], (2) Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures EU Rotterdam [ATW], (3) ICE Futures South Africa Richards Bay [AFR], and (4) ICE Futures - globalCOAL Asia-Pacific (Newcastle, Australia) [NEWC Index]. </font> <font> Such an index could be developed as an exchange-traded note (ETN) product to track this key energy commodity, which currently has no exchange-traded product (ETP) on the market and is currently only available in the form of futures trading. Similar ETPs for other key energy commodities include the US Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) and the US Natural Gas Fund (NYSE:UNG) with over $3 billion in assets while products for carbon credits such as the iPath Global Carbon ETN (NYSE:GRN) and the now defunct AirShares EU Carbon Allowances have failed to garner interest from investors in the form of net assets and trading volume. </font> <font> www.mikehavRx.com </font> <font> is your prescription for stock index investing updates focused on the healthcare sector, medical innovation, and pending binary events such as FDA decisions and clinical trials. The actively managed HavRx Regulatory Catalyst Index update report is currently tracking 577 entries and 375 companies (including approximately 200 stocks trading under $5 per share and 31 private companies). Promo codes (50% discount) are available for college students, investment clubs, and subscribers to my previous FDA Calendar or similar services. </font> <font> Disclosure: No positions </font>