What's going on?

Germany�s key stock market index unveiled a whole new look late on Friday, and � wow! � who�d have thought it looked like that without a scrunchie?

What does this mean?

Last year, German fintech giant Wirecard collapsed after admitting that $2 billion it claimed to have in cash didn�t exist. But given its existing rules, the DAX � Germany�s stock market equivalent of the US�s Dow Jones Industrial Average � couldn�t easily remove the company from its number.

So the index decided to overhaul those rules: it�s now demanding its members publish quarterly statements and audited annual results, and will kick out any that don�t release them on time. It made another significant tweak too: the DAX will expand from 30 companies to 40, which will see online fashion retailer Zalando, food subscription service HelloFresh, and aircraft manufacturer Airbus join the team. All in all, that�ll add around $415 billion to an index already worth $2.2 trillion.

Why should I care?

For markets: Fewer dividends, more growth.

The DAX is renowned for its dividend-payers, with companies like cloud computing provider SAP and luxury carmaker Daimler regularly making substantial payouts. But new additions like Zalando and HelloFresh are more interested in spending their cash on rapidly growing their businesses than they are on paying shareholders. That could change the dynamic of the index, and should lure in more growth-focused � rather than income-focused � investors.

The bigger picture: Rebalancing giveth and taketh away.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the DAX with an estimated $19 billion of capital will invest some of that cash into the new stocks joining the index, which could give their share prices a boost. Not so for some of the biggest remaining DAX members: ETFs will reallocate some of their cash to the newcomers, which could put pressure on the veterans� shares.