Standard & Poor's Announces Update to the U.S. Market Cap Guidelines

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 / Standard & Poor's is updating the market cap guidelines for its U.S. indices. Effective today, the new guidelines are:

S&P 500-- $3.5 billion or greater
S&P MidCap 400-- $850 million to $3.8 billion
S&P SmallCap 600-- $250 million to $1.2 billion
"Standard & Poor's feels that the new market cap ranges for its U.S. indices are appropriate, based on our review of recent market activity, comments from index users and the current U.S. market cap distribution," says David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee. The guidelines refer to a company's total market capitalization, not its float-adjusted cap.

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S&P Indices, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P Global 1200, a composite index comprised of seven regional and country headline indices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, and the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for nearly 150 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com.