Standard & Poor's Announces Changes to U.S. Indices

NEW YORK, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P 500 constituent Freeport -McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) will replace Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) in the S&P 100, S&P MidCap 400 constituent Priceline.com Inc. (NASD: PCLN) will replace Schering-Plough in the S&P 500, and MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) will replace Priceline.com in the S&P MidCap 400, all after the close of trading on a date to be announced. Schering-Plough is merging with S&P 100 and 500 constituent Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final approvals.

Standard & Poor's will monitor these transactions, and post any relevant updates on its website: www.standardandpoors.com.

Freeport -McMoRan Copper & Gold is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.

Priceline.com is a global online travel company. Headquartered in Norwalk, CT, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Internet Retail Sub-Industry index.

MSCI is a provider of investment decision support tools. Headquartered in New York, NY, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Specialized Finance Sub-Industry index.

Following is a summary of the changes:

S&P 100 INDEX - TBA --------------------

COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ------- -------------------- ----------------- ADDED Freeport McMoRan Materials Diversified Metals Copper & Gold & Mining

DELETED Schering-Plough Health Care Pharmaceuticals

S&P 500 INDEX - TBA ---------------------- COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ------- -------------------- ----------------- ADDED Priceline.com Consumer Internet Discretionary Retail

DELETED Schering-Plough Health Care Pharmaceuticals

S&P MIDCAP 400 INDEX - TBA ----------------------------- COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ------- -------------------- ----------------- ADDED MSCI Financials Specialized Finance

DELETED Priceline.com Consumer Internet Discretionary Retail

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Standard & Poor's Index Services, 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.

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SOURCE Standard & Poor's