S&P 500 Stock Buybacks Retreat in Q1 But Remain Strong …

          S&P 500 Stock Buybacks Retreat in Q1 But Remain Strong

                         Financials Add Shares as Liquidity Concerns Continue

New York, June 18, 2008 ­ Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today that
preliminary results show S&P 500 stock buyback activity slowing considerably during the first quarter of
2008, posting its first year-over-year quarterly drop since the third quarter of 2003. According to Standard
& Poor's data, S&P 500 buybacks are set to record $113.9 billion in stock buybacks during the first
quarter, representing a 3.23% decline over the $117.7 billion spent during the first quarter of 2007.

"Despite the slowdown, the first quarter results marked the tenth straight quarter of $100 billion plus
buybacks for the S&P 500 companies," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard &
Poor's. "Standard & Poor's expects buyback activity to continue at the $100 billion plus rate throughout
2008, but not at the record setting pace set in the third quarter of 2007 when $172 billion was spent on
stock repurchases."

On a sector basis, Standard & Poor's notes the continuing shift in sector buyback participation. Financial
issues continue to shy away from buybacks, accounting for just 12.3% of the aggregate repurchases
during the first quarter of 2008 - less than half of the 28.7% they spent during the first quarter of 2007.
Conversely, Information Technology spent over six times the amount on stock buybacks than it did on
cash dividends.

"The market is now seeing a substantial increase in Financial companies issuing common and convertible
instruments in an effort to shore up liquidity," add Silverblatt. "The additional financing gives them
immediate breathing room, with the payback being longer term dilution."

Over the past fourteen quarters, since the buyback boom began during the fourth quarter of 2004, S&P
500 issues have spent approximately $1.55 trillion on stock buybacks compared to $1.68 trillion on
Capital Expenditures and $783 billion on dividends.

The S&P 500 is the world's most followed stock market index with $1.5 trillion directly indexed via
ETF's, index funds and other investment vehicles. Over $4.85 trillion is benchmarked to the S&P 500.

Historical S&P 500 buyback data can be found at: www.marketattributes.standardandpoors.com
STANDARD & POOR'S INDEX SERVICES
            MARKET AS REPORTED
              VALUE      EARNINGS DIVIDENDS BUYBACKS                   DIVIDEND&
             BILLION       BILLION   BILLION  BILLION                  BUYBACK
                                                                            YIELD

QUARTER
03/31/2008      $11,510.68       $135.24          $61.72     $113.90         7.25%
12/31/2007      $12,867.85        $68.53          $67.09     $141.71         6.49%
09/30/2007      $13,469.72       $133.66          $60.84     $171.95         5.89%
06/30/2007      $13,349.73       $194.29          $59.44     $157.76         5.43%
03/31/2007      $12,706.32       $190.75          $58.32     $117.70         5.34%
12/31/2006      $12,728.86       $181.65          $61.76     $105.18         5.15%
09/30/2006      $12,019.85       $193.19          $54.78     $109.81         5.39%
06/30/2006      $11,496.84       $182.02          $54.46     $116.66         5.34%
03/31/2006      $11,659.69       $177.30          $53.25     $100.18         4.92%
12/31/2005      $11,254.54       $155.89          $54.83     $104.28         4.90%
09/30/2005      $11,082.59       $160.72          $48.99      $81.47         4.58%
06/30/2005      $10,890.01       $167.19          $49.03      $81.42         4.31%
03/31/2005      $10,819.81       $154.43          $48.99      $82.05         3.92%
12/31/2004      $11,288.60       $129.85          $49.68      $66.42         3.35%
09/30/2004      $10,397.80       $132.28          $45.54      $45.68         3.34%
06/30/2004      $10,623.42       $142.01          $43.43      $42.46         3.11%
03/31/2004      $10,461.32       $141.01          $42.36      $42.92         2.97%
12/31/2003      $10,285.83       $121.74          $46.76      $38.53         2.84%
09/30/2003       $9,207.69       $116.12          $39.96      $34.13
06/30/2003       $9,001.01       $102.53          $37.74      $28.36
03/31/2003       $7,826.70       $109.99          $36.19      $30.03




S&P 500 SECTOR % OF TOTAL BUYBACKS
Preliminary Q1 2008 DATA
                              Q4 2006   Q1 2007    Q2 2007   Q3 2007   Q4 2007   Q1 2008
Consumer Discretionary        14.87% 11.55%    9.63% 20.30% 11.63% 10.92%
Consumer Staples               9.75%   6.20%   9.51%   9.36%   9.44%   8.34%
Energy                        12.27%   9.43% 10.08%    8.56% 17.87% 14.79%
Financials                    22.30% 28.68% 17.00% 16.15% 13.41% 12.35%
Healthcare                     8.41%   9.57% 11.88% 10.85% 10.67% 12.25%
Industrials                    6.68%   7.90%   8.80% 10.19%    9.96% 11.76%
Information Technology        20.57% 20.28% 26.82% 13.90% 22.53% 21.90%
Materials                      1.66%   1.66%   1.68%   3.78%   1.75%   2.05%
Telecommunication Services     2.11%   3.48%   4.16%   2.30%   2.13%   5.06%
Utilities                      1.37%   1.25%   0.45%   4.62%   0.59%   0.60%
S&P 500                      100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
LARGEST Q1 2008 BUYBACK EXPENDITURES, $ MILLIONS
COMPANY                                  SECTOR                       Q1 2008 Q1 2007 Change         From Q4 2004
Exxon Mobil (4th largest in S&P history) Energy                         $9,465 $7,960   18.9%             $92,954
AT&T                                     Telecommunication Services     $4,071 $3,005   35.5%             $19,430
Hewlett-Packard                          Information Technology         $2,845 $4,024 -29.3%              $28,349
Procter & Gamble                         Consumer Staples               $2,554 $1,348   89.5%             $34,847
Intel Corp                               Information Technology         $2,501   $400 525.3%              $22,519
ConocoPhillips                           Energy                         $2,496 $1,000 149.6%              $12,346
International Business Machines          Information Technology         $2,427 $3,398 -28.6%              $37,532
McDonald's Corp                          Consumer Discretionary         $2,011   $968 107.7%               $8,514
WellPoint Inc                            Healthcare                     $2,009    $635 216.4%             $13,045
Chevron Corp                             Energy                         $1,899 $1,147   65.6%             $15,966
TOP 10 TOTAL                                                           $32,278 $23,885  35.1%            $285,501



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For more information contact:

         David R. Guarino                                       Howard Silverblatt
         Communications                                         Senior Index Analyst
         Standard & Poor's                                      Standard & Poor's
         212 438 1471                                           212 438 3916
         dave_guarino@standardandpoors.com                      howard_silverblatt@standardandpoors.com