The H share index, which tracks companies based in mainland China, jumped 9.69 percent.

Their primary job is to track companies in an industry.

The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Index, which tracks companies in countries that joined the single currency, ended down 3.51 points, or less than 1 percent, at 414.82.

"They have a credible business plan, and they want the bank," said Dean Perry, an analyst who tracks nonbank financial companies at ING Barings.

"There's not a lot of excitement in this company," said David Webb, whose Internet service, Webb-site.com, tracks public companies here.

One project, just getting under way, will track the 150,000 individuals and companies who filed under New York's amnesty tax program in 1986.

Even today, fire officials cannot say where many firefighters died, in part because the magnetic command boards, which the department used to track companies, were lost in the collapses.

Our agency has aggressively tracked companies that owed royalty payments because of recent higher prices.

"There's so much money pouring into this sector," said Julie Ickes, editor and publisher of StockInterview.com, which tracks uranium prices and companies.

Finding such a basket can be tricky, though, because no index fund specifically tracks companies engaging in buybacks.