S&P Dow Jones Indices Launches Credit Spread Indices Based on S&P 500; trueEX Licenses Indices to Create Credit Spread Futures Contracts

NEW YORK, April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today the launch of three new credit spread indices based upon the S&P 500®. S&P Dow Jones Indices has licensed trueEX, LLC, a CFTC-approved electronic exchange, to create futures contracts based upon the indices. The trueEX futures contracts will be the first to offer exposure to corporate credit spreads.

The three new credit spread indices launched today by S&P Dow Jones Indices are: the S&P/ISDA U.S. 150 Credit Spread Index, the S&P/ISDA U.S. Corporate 120 Credit Spread Index, and the S&P/ISDA U.S. Financial 30 Credit Spread Index.

The S&P/ISDA U.S. Corporate 120 Credit Spread Index is based on the largest and most liquid 120 corporate investment grade issuers of long-term debt outstanding in the S&P 500. The S&P/ISDA U.S. Financial 30 Credit Spread Index is based on the largest 30 financial investment grade issuers of long-term debt outstanding in the S&P 500. Together, the indices will comprise the S&P/ISDA U.S. 150 Credit Spread Index.

"The S&P/ISDA credit spread indices provides investors with a clearly defined, independently calculated, and rules-based family of indices to measure this important segment of the market," says JR Rieger, Vice President of Fixed Income Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "We are excited to have licensed our indices to trueEX for the creation of futures contracts, the first to offer exposure to corporate credit spreads."

"Investors have longed for a transparent and standardized way to express views on credit spreads of the largest and most liquid corporate and financial debt issuers in the U.S.," says Sunil Hirani, CEO of trueEX. "There is a huge unmet investor demand for Investment Grade indices that are rule-based, independently managed, and based on corporate-debt issuance. There is also a gaping hole in the availability of indices based on financial debt issuers. trueEX has created a contract which will provide a transparent, standardized way for the global investor community to express its view on corporate credit spreads in futures form – something that has never been offered before."

trueEX will be launching a series of futures contracts on S&P Dow Jones Indices' credit spread indices, based on CFTC approval. According to trueEX LLC, it is the first swaps exchange approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market (DCM). trueEX was designed from the ground up as the first Dodd-Frank compliant exchange. 

The complete methodology for the S&P/ISDA U.S. Credit Spread indices, including inclusion criteria, can be found at www.spindices.com. Additional information on the Indices, including current spreads and daily prices changes, is available on the ISDA CDS Marketplace^SM(www.isdacdsmarketplace.com).

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500^® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^SM, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of institutional and retail investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 830,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"), a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones").  These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P and their respective affiliates (collectively "S&P Dow Jones Indices") do not sponsor, endorse, sell, or promote any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P Dow Jones Indices does not have the necessary licenses. S&P Dow Jones Indices receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.

About ISDA CDS MarketplaceSM
ISDA CDS MarketplaceSM (www.isdacdsmarketplace.com) was launched by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) in August 2009. The website brings together information, data and statistics on the credit default swaps (CDS) business. ISDA CDS MarketplaceSM was developed with the support of the DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC, a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC"), Markit, Moody's Analytics, and Standard & Poor's Indices. The site consists of four main sections: About the CDS Market, Daily Prices, Exposures & Activity, and Market Statistics.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices

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