Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations to Provide Intra-day Pricing on Taxable Securities

NEW YORK, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies announced the addition of a new intra-day pricing snapshot for US taxable securities.  Delivered via Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc. (SPSE), a leading provider of independent evaluations, the new intra-day report – delivered at 12:30 PM ET daily – provides a real-time snapshot of market-derived pricing for over 1.5 million fixed income instruments.

The new intra-day pricing data is delivered in addition to the 3:00 PM ET and 4:00 PM ET pricing currently provided by Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations.  It is a reflection of growing demand among market participants for regular updates that track the day's market activity to assist them in spotting nascent trends that will affect valuations.

"Day-to-day events have proven to have dramatic impacts on the fixed income markets in recent months and many investors need an intra-day compass to either reassure them that their assumptions are intact or serve as an early indicator that market valuations are on the move," said Frank Ciccotto, Senior Vice President, Standard & Poor's Valuation and Risk Strategies.  "Further, we are providing European institutions that hold U.S. securities a point in time price that aligns with their market close."

The development of the new intra-day pricing snapshot is part of Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations' ongoing effort to improve transparency in its fixed income products and services.  Intra-day pricing is now available to S&P customers through a direct data feed.

More information on the S&P Securities Evaluations is available here: http://www.standardandpoors.com/products-services/valuation-services/en/us.

Standard & Poor's Valuations and Risk Strategies

S&P Valuations and Risk Strategies delivers a portfolio of products and services to investors that serve the global financial markets by providing market intelligence and analytic insight for risk driven investment analysis, including for the debt, structured finance, derivative and credit markets.  S&P Valuations and Risk Strategies are performed separately from any other analytic activity of Standard & Poor's.  The unit has no access to non-public information received by other units of Standard & Poor's.  Standard & Poor's does not trade on its own account.

About Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations

Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc. (SPSE), a wholly owned subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP), provides independent fixed-income evaluations of over 3 million securities.  It also distributes to its client base pricing data and equity pricing services of other unaffiliated firms.  In total, SPSE provides coverage for more than four million global securities.  Prices of firms other than those of SPSE are the responsibility of those firms and not SPSE and are produced under the firms' methodologies and policies and procedures, not those of SPSE.  Analytic services and products provided by Standard & Poor's are the result of separate activities designed to preserve the independence and objectivity of each analytic process.  Standard & Poor's has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of non-public information received during each analytic process.  Standard & Poor's and its affiliates provide a wide range of services to, or relating to, many organizations, including issuers of securities, investment advisers, broker-dealers, investment banks, other financial institutions and financial intermediaries, and accordingly may receive fees or other economic benefits from those organizations, including organizations whose securities or services they may recommend, rate, include in model portfolios, evaluate or otherwise address.  For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com.

Media Contact:
Michael Privitera
Standard & Poor's Communications
212-438-6679
[email protected]

SOURCE Standard & Poor's