Standard & Poor's and BGCantor Market Data Launch New Family of U.S. Treasury Indices

NEW YORK, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, and BGCantor Market Data, L.P. ('BGCantor Market Data'), a leading market data provider and a subsidiary of BGC Partners, Inc, announced today the launch of the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bill Index and the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bond Index, with the aim of capturing and reflecting new issues faster than any available U.S. Treasury Indices.  

Part of the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bond Index Family, the two new indices are launched on the heels of a recent agreement by S&P Indices and BGCantor Market Data to jointly develop a series of U.S. Treasury Indices that would better replicate the current trend toward more frequent borrowing by fixed income issuers.

Both U.S. Treasury indices use pricing from BGCantor Market Data, and are maintained and published by S&P Indices.

"As the market changes, so does the need for its benchmarks to change. These indices are designed to capture the nuances of the U.S. Treasury market by incorporating the newer issues into the indices in a more timely fashion," states J.R. Rieger, Vice President, S&P Indices. "This series of indices adds to the transparency that S&P Indices brings to the market by building upon the money market, U.S. municipal, sovereign debt, and CDS indices we publish every single day."

The S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bill Index is a broad, comprehensive, market value-weighted index designed to measure the performance of the U.S. Treasury Bill market. Unlike others available in the marketplace, the Index undergoes a review and rebalancing on a weekly basis so as to keep the Index current with frequent borrowing by fixed income investors.  The Index is rules based, and is comprised of sub-indices that are differentiated by the range of maturities of its constituents.

The S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bond Index is a broad, comprehensive, market value-weighted index that seeks to measure the performance of the U.S. Treasury Bond and Note market. The Index undergoes a review and rebalancing twice a month (semi-monthly) as opposed to monthly for other available indices, with the intent of keeping the Index current. Like the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bill Index, this Index is rules based and is comprised of sub-indices that are differentiated by the range of maturities of its constituents.

Bernie Weinstein, head of BGCantor Market Data, added: "We are focused on providing our customers with the data they need to support their trading requirements. The massive growth in U.S. Treasury issuance has resulted in even greater demand for high quality data in that market. These Indices provide additional tools designed to give our customers a broad view of the market and help them make informed trading decisions."

As part of this rollout, S&P Indices and BGCantor Market Data also intend to launch a U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) Index during the second quarter of 2010.

For more information on the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bill Index and the S&P/BG Cantor U.S. Treasury Bond Index, please visit www.fixedincomeindices.standardandpoors.com.

About S&P Indices

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 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

About BGCantor Market Data, L.P.

BGCantor Market Data, LP, a subsidiary of BGC Partners, Inc. (Nasdaq: BGCP) is one of the world's premier suppliers of real-time, tradable, indicative, end-of-day, and historical fixed income and derivatives data. As the exclusive source for market data derived from BGC Partners' broking activity, BGCantor Market Data's products and services are used by finance professionals for price discovery, analysis, risk management, portfolio monitoring and valuation, and research. BGCantor Market Data's product suite spans fixed income, interest rates, foreign exchange, foreign exchange options, credit derivatives, structures products, and analytics. BGCantor Market Data's products are available through direct data feed and the Internet via BGCantor On Demand (www.bgcantorondemand.com), and through vendors such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, CQG, DTN, eSignal, and SunGard.

About BGC Partners, Inc.

BGC Partners, Inc. (Nasdaq: BGCP) is a leading global intermediary to the wholesale financial markets, specializing in the brokering of a broad range of financial instruments. BGC Partners' proprietary technology operates multiple real-time electronic marketplaces for the world's capital markets.  Its customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments and investment firms. Named after financial markets innovator B. Gerald Cantor, BGC has 19 offices worldwide  For more information, visit http://www.bgcpartners.com

SOURCE Standard & Poor's