S&P Extends International Family of Strategy Indices to Canada with Launch of
S&P/TSX 60 130/30 Strategy Index

Licenses AlphaPro Management Inc. to Create, Launch Products Based Upon the Index

TORONTO , Jan. 19 /CNW/ - Industry leader Standard & Poor's continues to offer innovative products, launching the S&P/TSX 60 130/30 Strategy Index today in Canada . With the S&P/TSX 60 as its foundation, the new index utilizes an index strategy which gives additional weighting to top performing constituents and decreased position to the weakest performing stocks in the Index. While traditional equity indices passively monitor market performance, the S&P/TSX 60 130/30 establishes over- and underweight positions providing an advantageous weighting of index components with the prospect of outperformance.

S&P Indices also announced today that it has licensed AlphaPro Management Inc. to create and launch an ETF based upon the S&P/TSX 60 130/30.

To determine overweight and underweight positions in the Index, Standard & Poor's employs a transparent, rules-driven framework leveraging quantitative and qualitative factors, including capitalization rate, earnings quality and equity analyst recommendations, and divides the index into two baskets. Constituents of the overweight basket each have their weights increased by three percent relative to the S&P/TSX 60, while stocks in the under-weight basket each have their weights decreased by three percent relative to the S&P/TSX 60. The S&P/TSX 60 130/30 Strategy Index is rebalanced quarterly to minimize turnover and volatility.

"As Canadians and investors around the world face a new financial reality in 2010, the appetite for efficient exposure to a strategic index approach grows," says Srikant Dash, Head of Global Research and Design at S&P Indices. "The introduction of the S&P/TSX 60 130/30, S&P Indices first index of its kind for the Canadian market, provides risk-controlled, long/short exposure in a transparent, cost-efficient format."

S&P Indices currently offers the S&P 500 130/30 Strategy Index, as well as other Strategy Indices such as the S&P 500 Risk Control Indices and the S&P 500 VIX Futures Index Series.

A white paper on 130/30 Indexation, as well as the methodology document for the S&P/TSX 60 130/30 Strategy Index, can be accessed by going to: www.strategyindices.standardandpoors.com and then clicking on the index name.

For more information about S&P 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 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

For further information: Jasmit Bhandal, Standard & Poor's, Director of Business Development, [phone], [email protected]; David R. Guarino, Standard & Poor's, Communications, [phone], [email protected]