MSCI All Country World Commodity Producers Sector Capped Index (MSCI AWC)

See: MSCI.

Obviously, there's a lot going on with this index. Basically, it's meant to track the performance of a basket of stocks from larger commodity-related companies, headquartered in various parts of the world. That's the gist. But we'll break it down in a little more detail.

The "All Country World" part indicates (in somewhat redundant fashion) that the index covers the entire globe. From Brazil to Belgium. From the United States to the United Arab Emirates. Specifically, the index covers stocks from 23 developed countries and 24 emerging nations.

Meanwhile, the "commodity producers" part denotes the fact that the index covers stocks for companies engaged in some kind of commodity production. Oil companies. Miners. Makers of agricultural chemicals. That kind of thing.

The "capped" part designates the fact that the index is weighted by market capitalization. Basically, bigger companies (as measured by market cap) get more influence on the index.