Standard & Poor's Announces Changes to U.S. Investable Weight Factors and Final Float Transition Schedule

    NEW YORK, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's today publishes
 revised investable weight factors for three companies in the S&P 500 and one
 company in the S&P SmallCap 600, and provides a detailed schedule of changes
 surrounding the first step in moving its U.S. indices to float adjustment.
     After the market's close on Friday, March 18th, 2005, Standard & Poor's
 will implement half-float adjustment for the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, S&P
 SmallCap 600 and S&P REIT Composite indices.  At the same time, the usual
 quarterly share count updates will be implemented.
     The following investable weight factors (IWFs) will be changed for the
 implementation of half float on March 18th and full float on September 16th,
 2005:
 
 
     Index   Company (Ticker)      New Half New Full Old Half  Old Full
                                     Float    Float
     500     General Mills (GIS)      1.00    1.00    0.90       0.79
     500     Freeport-McMoran (FCX)   1.00    1.00    0.94       0.87
     500     Goldman Sachs (GS)       0.92    0.83    0.81       0.62
     600     Cyberonics (CYBX)        0.91    0.81    0.83       0.66
 
      * The transition to half float will not affect the closing values of the
        official U.S. indices, nor will new indices be created.  Further, as
        with any index change, the implementation will assure that this
        transition does not affect index levels; the only forces affecting
        index levels are changes in prices of the constituent securities.
 
      * Beginning on Monday, March 21st, 2005, the official values disseminated
        to quote vendors and websites will be the half-float values.
        Standard & Poor's will continue to calculate non-float adjusted
        versions of these indices for research purposes.
 
      * Likewise, it should be noted that although each official index will
        transition to a half-float structure, this does not mean that the new
        official indices will be the half-float indices currently published.
        Rather, the current official indices will be adjusted in such a way as
        to effect continuity with the new official half-float indices, at which
        point the currently published half-float indices will cease to exist.
 
      * All companies added to an S&P U.S. index after Friday, March 18th, 2005
        will be added with a full-float IWF.
 
      * Quarterly share changes to be implemented on Friday March 18th will be
        announced after the close on Wednesday March 16th on S&P's subscription
        service, Index Alert.  This is the same procedure used at every
        quarterly share update.
 
     In a float-adjusted index, the number of shares of a company reflects only
 the shares available to investors, not the total shares outstanding.  Over the
 last few years, float adjustment has become the accepted standard for
 capitalization-weighted indices.  In March 2004, Standard & Poor's announced
 it would move its U.S. indices to float adjustment in two steps, on March 18th
 and September 16th, 2005.  On September 28th, 2004, Standard & Poor's
 published the details of the changes and its float adjustment methodology.
 Each stock is assigned an IWF representing the percentage of its shares that
 are available to the public.  These figures were released on September 28th,
 2004.  Subsequently, on November 2nd, S&P revised figures for four companies.
 There are four additional revisions included in this release.  It is expected
 that updated IWFs, reflecting year-end 2004 proxy statements, will be
 published shortly before the September 16th move from half float to full
 float.  Further information can be found at
 http://www.freefloat.standardandpoors.com.
 
     About Standard & Poor's
     Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:   MHP), is
 the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk
 evaluation, investment research, data and valuations.  With 6,000 employees in
 21 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial
 infrastructure, and has played a leading role for more than 140 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.
 
     Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information
 services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education
 and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard &
 Poor's, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more than
 280 offices in 37 countries. Sales in 2004 were $5.3 billion. Additional
 information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.
 
 

SOURCE  Standard & Poor's