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

November 17, 2008 6:44 PM EST

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's will make the following changes to the S&P 100, S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 indices:

    --  Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) will replace Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (NYSE: BUD)
        in the S&P 100, S&P MidCap 400 constituent Stericycle Inc.
        (Nasdaq: SRCL) will replace Anheuser-Busch in the S&P 500, S&P
        SmallCap 600 constituent Flowers Foods Inc. (NYSE: FLO) will replace
        Stericycle in the S&P MidCap 400, and Diamond Foods Inc. (Nasdaq:
        DMND) will replace Flowers Foods in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the
        close of trading on a date to be announced.  Anheuser-Busch is scheduled
        to be acquired by S&P Global 1200 constituent InBev in a transaction
        that is still pending final approvals.

    --  Life Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: LIFE) will replace Applied Biosystems
        Inc. (NYSE: ABI) in the S&P 500, and Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.
        (NYSE: BIO) will replace Invitrogen Corp. (Nasdaq: IVGN) in the S&P
        MidCap 400 after the close of trading on Friday, November 21. Invitrogen
        is acquiring Applied Biosystems in a transaction expected to close on or
        about that date, pending final approvals. The merged company will take
        the name Life Technologies Corp.

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

Headquartered in Madison, NJ, Wyeth specializes in pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, and animal health products.

Stericycle provides medical waste collection, transportation, treatment and disposal services and safety and compliance programs to health care companies. Headquartered in Lake Forest, IL, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Environmental & Facilities Services Sub-Industry index.

Life Technologies will be a developer, manufacturer and marketer of life science research tools. Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Life Sciences Tools & Services Sub-Industry index.

Bio-Rad Laboratories manufactures and supplies life science products. Headquartered in Hercules, CA, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Life Sciences Tools & Services Sub-Industry index.

Flowers Foods produces and markets packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers. Headquartered in Thomasville, GA, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Packaged Foods & Meats Sub-Industry index.

Diamond Foods processes, markets and distributes nuts. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Packaged Foods & Meats Sub-Industry index.

Following is a summary of the changes:

                            S&P 500 INDEX - November 21, 2008
                  COMPANY        GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR    GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED   Life Technologies        Health Care     Life Sciences Tools
                                                           & Services

    DELETED Applied Biosystems       Health Care      Life Sciences Tools
                                                           & Services



                         S&P MIDCAP 400 INDEX - November 21, 2008
                   COMPANY        GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR   GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED  Bio-Rad Laboratories     Health Care     Life Sciences Tools
                                                          & Services

    DELETED      Invitrogen          Health Care     Life Sciences Tools
                                                          & Services



                               S&P 100 INDEX - TBA
                COMPANY      GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR      GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED         Wyeth            Health Care          Pharmaceuticals

    DELETED  Anheuser-Busch      Consumer Staples            Brewers



                             S&P 500 INDEX - TBA
                COMPANY     GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR      GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED    Stericycle         Industrials           Environmental
                                                   & Facilities Services

    DELETED Anheuser-Busch    Consumer Staples            Brewers



                          S&P MIDCAP 400 INDEX - TBA
                COMPANY        GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR     GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED   Flowers Foods       Consumer Staples   Packaged Foods & Meats
    DELETED   Stericycle            Industrials         Environmental
                                                    & Facilities Services



                          S&P SMALLCAP 600 INDEX - TBA
                COMPANY         GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR  GICS SUB-INDUSTRY

     ADDED  Diamond Foods        Consumer Staples   Packaged Foods & Meats

    DELETED Flowers Foods        Consumer Staples   Packaged Foods & Meats

Additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the companies concerned.

About Standard & Poor's Index Services

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. Its family of indices includes the S&P 500, an index with $1.5 trillion invested and $4.85 trillion benchmarked, and the S&P Global 1200, a composite index comprised of seven regional and country headline indices. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located 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 more than 140 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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