Vernon Sumnicht, chief executive of iSectors, says the hedge-fund index was always the internal benchmark for the Liquid Alternatives model, but that the firm that reports iSectors' returns to advisers and clients wasn't able to obtain full access to the hedge-fund index data until recently.

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Price increases also picked-up by a full percentage point to an index value of 56.5.

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Children with Asperger's also had abnormal index-to-ring finger ratios, though less so than full-blown autistics.

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Consider that the double-B subset of the Barclays High-Yield Index, at 4.33% on Tuesday, is nearly a full percentage point lower than where it stood at the beginning of September and is down roughly 175 bps from levels a year ago.

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Merck KGaA gave the index a boost, adding 4.2% after it raised its outlook for full-year earnings and after revenue in the second quarter rose 12%.

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There is a full slate of potentially market-moving data out on Thursday, including jobless claims, the Consumer Price Index, existing home sales, the Philadelphia Fed Survey, Leading Indicators, and the flash PMI Manufacturing Index.

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