S&P Launches First Commodity Index Comprised Solely of Futures Contracts Traded on International Exchanges

NEW YORK, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Providing greater access and insight into the performance of international commodity markets, Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today the launch of the S&P World Commodity Index ("S&P WCI"). The S&P WCI is the first index to consist solely of listed commodity futures contracts that trade outside of the U.S.

"The launch of the S&P WCI is the result of Standard & Poor's meeting the market's needs for an international commodity index that would complement the U.S. focused S&P GSCI, providing all-world commodity exposure," says Michael McGlone, Director of Commodity Indexing at S&P Indices. "The S&P WCI is a natural extension of the S&P GSCI, and reflects S&P Indices' commitment to extending its reach beyond U.S. equity indices and into alternative areas of the global market."

The S&P WCI is a rules-based, world-production-weighted commodity index. It includes 22 commodities covering the Agriculture, Energy and Metals sectors, listed on eight international exchanges and traded in six currencies in Asia, Europe, and North America.  While the S&P GSCI is comprised of only U.S. dollar based commodities, the S&P WCI is multi-currency.

To preserve the tradability of the Index, the S&P WCI limits eligible commodity contracts to those that are the subject of active, liquid futures markets. Also, to replicate actual commodity market performance, the S&P WCI includes a "rolling" procedure designed to replicate the rolling of actual positions in the designated contracts.  

The S&P WCI is calculated in U.S. dollars. While the underlying futures contracts prices are traded in local currencies, using WM/Reuters' spot exchange rates, these local currencies are converted to U.S. Dollars. There is no limit on the number of contracts that may be included in the S&P WCI, as long as they satisfy the eligibility criteria.  

For complete eligibility criteria, as well as index calculation guidelines, please reference the S&P World Commodity Index's methodology found at www.indices.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

SOURCE Standard & Poor's

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