Precious Metals Support S&P GSCI in September

NEW YORK, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ — Standard & Poor’s, the world’s leading index provider, announced today that the S&P GSCI increased 0.17% in September led by strength in the precious metals sector. According to Standard & Poor’s, the S&P GSCI Precious Metals Index increased 6.49% in September and has returned 16.19% for the year. Year-to-date, the S&P GSCI is up 4.68%.

Looking at the sectors, energy was little changed in September; however, the S&P GSCI Energy Index decline of 4.07% acted as the biggest index drag during the quarter. The S&P GSCI Industrial Metals Index, the best performing sector in 2009 with a year-to-date return of 56.83%, gained 20.72% during the third quarter.

“In addition to the mean reversion factor from 2008 and plenty of demand from China, many analysts have suggested that metals are gaining favor due to the low opportunity cost demand of dollar based metal investing from extremely low base rates,” says Michael McGlone, Director of Commodity Indexing at Standard & Poor’s and author of the S&P GSCI Commodity Perspective posted monthly to www.spgsci.standardandpoors.com.

The S&P GSCI Enhanced Index ended September with a year-to-date gain of 12%, despite a 0.94% decline during the third quarter. McGlone noted, “2009 has been a year favoring enhanced strategies due to extreme contango conditions in some of the energy components.”

The S&P GSCI Agriculture Index ended September with a year-to-date decline of 6.77% on the heels of a 1.92% decline during the third quarter. Despite cheaper feed prices, the S&P GSCI Livestock Index was the weakest sector during the third quarter with a 5.75% decline. Year-to-date, the Index has fallen 16.58%.

The S&P GSCI is the most closely followed benchmark for investment performance in the commodity markets. For more information on the S&P GSCI, please visit: www.spgsci.standardandpoors.com.

    S&P GSCI Total Return Analysis for September 30, 2009

                            Weight    Value     MTD     QTD     YTD
    S&P GSCI Index           (%)    9/30/2009 Change  Change  Change

    S&P GSCI                100.00%   4182.21   0.17%  -1.76%   4.68%
    S&P GSCI Energy Index    70.24%    947.08   0.55%  -4.07%   3.65%
    S&P GSCI Industrial
     Metals Index             7.93%   1467.50  -2.40%  20.72%  56.83%
    S&P GSCI Precious
     Metals Index             3.26%   1322.94   6.49%   9.93%  16.19%
    S&P GSCI Agriculture
     Index                   14.25%    552.81  -1.92%  -1.92%  -6.77%
    S&P GSCI Livestock
     Index                    4.31%   1988.53   1.42%  -5.75% -16.58%
    S&P GSCI Softs Index      5.13%     83.18   0.95%  21.53%  40.03%
    S&P GSCI Enhanced
     Index                             584.66  -0.35%  -0.94%  12.00%

                             YTD        YTD     3-MO.   12-MO.
    S&P GSCI Index           High       Low    Change   Change

    S&P GSCI               4520.96    3116.66  -1.20%  -43.09%
    S&P GSCI Energy Index  1041.38     646.34  -0.70%  -51.73%
    S&P GSCI Industrial
     Metals Index          1540.02     853.25  28.31%  -11.74%
    S&P GSCI Precious
     Metals Index          1342.47    1040.96   3.08%   13.31%
    S&P GSCI Agriculture
     Index                  663.49     509.40 -13.82%  -21.86%
    S&P GSCI Livestock
     Index                 2467.74    1941.95  -6.47%  -28.88%
    S&P GSCI Softs Index     83.18      55.85  19.68%   19.09%
    S&P GSCI Enhanced
     Index                  625.48     439.30   0.07%  -35.20%

    Source: Standard & Poor's

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. 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.

SOURCE Standard & Poor’s Index Services