PTAZX Putnam Arizona Tax Exempt Income Fund

Putnam Investments today announced that it has launched a new Web site, www.putnam.com/globalsector, to support its nine Putnam Global Sector Funds, the first suite of mutual funds to target stocks in sectors across the entire MSCI World Index. The new Web site allows investors and their advisors to tap into Putnam’s expertise, accessing the latest views and commentary from our seasoned sector analysts.

“Building upon the industry’s first and only comprehensive suite of truly global sector funds - we aim to break new ground with an informative, interactive Web site that gives investors and their advisors the relevant, high-quality content, updated frequently, that they need to make wise investment decisions,” said Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Reynolds. “This is global vision and analysis available at the click of a mouse.”

The Web site, www.putnam.com/globalsector is distinguished by its dynamic streaming video, analyst Q&As, and stock research stories. Site features will rotate to provide in-depth coverage of specific funds and analysts, and offer insight on the most timely issues. For example, the site — which launches as the debate over health-care reform intensifies — currently features the latest thinking from Dr. Kelsey Chen, Portfolio Manager of Putnam Global Health Care Fund. With a Ph.D. from the University of Texas Medical School and an M.B.A. from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Dr. Chen is uniquely qualified to offer perspective on investment opportunities in the health-care sector. The site includes video commentary and an in-depth Q&A with Dr. Chen.

Dr. Chen is just one of the talented managers who will contribute sector and market commentary for the site. Putnam’s sector fund managers offer impressive credentials, including hands-on experience in the sectors they follow. From a petroleum engineer on our energy fund to a former Wall Street Journal reporter covering financials, the funds’ managers — in Boston, Singapore, and London — have expertise that gives them a competitive edge, and which provides strong fundamental research thinking to Putnam’s broader equity platform.

The Web site includes a range of the features that advisors and investors have indicated they want, such as direct access to prospectuses, reports, fact sheets and biographical information about the portfolio managers. In addition, the site offers detailed fund information, including pricing, performance, holdings, country breakdowns and weightings versus benchmarks, among other data.

“We believe this will help financial advisors and investors make the right decisions for their portfolio,” says Reynolds, “and be useful for anyone investing in equities.”

The nine Putnam Global Sector Funds offer professional, active money management that can provide investors with enhanced risk management and diversification. By focusing on fundamental analysis and macroeconomic themes within each sector and investing globally, the funds allow investors to capitalize on the best companies within a specific sector, no matter where they are based. Each fund invests at least 80 percent of its assets in a particular industry.

Putnam Global Sector Funds:

 

Putnam Global Consumer Fund

Putnam Global Natural Resources Fund Putnam Global Energy Fund Putnam Global Technology Fund Putnam Global Financials Fund Putnam Global Utilities Fund Putnam Global Health Care Fund Putnam Global Telecommunications Fund Putnam Global Industrials Fund

“Our research tells us that traffic to our main www.putnam.com Web site, which we have dramatically enhanced during the past year, is up 46 percent in the last three months alone. That shows us the demand out there for quality content that adds real value,” said Putnam Investments Head of Global Marketing, Products and Retirement Jeffrey R. Carney. “When we were developing the new Global Sector Funds Web site, we wanted to build the best and most useful site anyone could want, and we believe we have succeeded. We also expect that advisors and investors will find the site’s information analysis equally useful as they evaluate sector investing in their larger portfolios.”

Additional site features currently in development include live interactive chats with Putnam staff and the Putnam global sector portfolio tool. This tool will allow advisors to visualize the sector funds in client portfolios, providing detailed analytics to assist in allocation decisions. With this tool, users can see the characteristics of a portfolio consisting of the entire suite of nine funds and compare it with an investment in the MSCI World Index. They can also test the impact of scenarios based on macroeconomic factors, and experiment with adjusting the portfolio under these scenarios.

About Putnam Investments

Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money management firm with over 70 years of investment experience. As of August 31, 2009, Putnam had $110 billion in assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney. For more information, go to putnam.com.

Putnam mutual funds are distributed by Putnam Retail Management.