Standard & Poor's Licenses S&P 500 to Vanguard; World Famous Index to Serve as Basis for Forthcoming Vanguard ETF

NEW YORK, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today that is has licensed the S&P 500, the most widely followed gauge of the U.S. equity markets, to Vanguard for the creation and listing of an Exchanged Traded Fund (ETF) based upon the Index. The licensing agreement also enables Vanguard to launch eight new equity funds and ETFs targeting the growth and value segments of the S&P 500, and the growth, value and blend segments of the S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600.

The agreement with Vanguard follows Standard & Poor's announcement in May that it had licensed seven European ETF sponsors to create and list S&P 500 Exchange Traded Funds on exchanges in major European cities. It also comes on the heels of Standard & Poor's groundbreaking March announcement that it had licensed the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) to create and list Indian Rupee-denominated futures contracts on the S&P 500.(1)

"Since it was first published in 1957, the S&P 500 has served as the cornerstone for the global development of ETF products, as well as other index-based investments throughout the world," says Alex Matturri, Executive Managing Director at S&P Indices. "Our agreement with Vanguard, and just recently with the seven European ETF sponsors and the NSE, underscores Standard & Poor's commitment to providing global investors with greater access to the products they need to meet their trading objectives."

Widely regarded as the best single gauge of the U.S. equity market since it was first introduced in 1957, the S&P 500 Index has over $4.83 trillion benchmarked to it globally, and approximately $1.1 trillion indexed.  The Index includes 500 leading companies in leading industries of the U.S. economy.

The S&P MidCap 400 provides investors with a benchmark for mid-sized companies. The Index seeks to remain an accurate measure of mid-sized companies, reflecting the risk and return characteristics of the broader mid-cap universe on an on-going basis.

The S&P SmallCap 600 measures the small cap segment of the market that is typically renowned for poor trading liquidity and financial instability.  The Index is designed to be an efficient portfolio of companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are investable and financially viable.

For more information on all of Standard & Poor's indices, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

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 $1.25 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/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. 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.

Standard & Poor's does not sponsor, endorse, sell or promote any S&P index-based investment product.

(1) The licensing agreement, jointly from S&P and S&P-licensee Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to NSE, is part of a landmark cross-listing arrangement announced by CME and NSE on March 10, 2010 that provides for CME and NSE to create and list new derivatives products based upon Indian and U.S. equity benchmark indices

SOURCE Standard & Poor's