NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's will make the following change to the S&P 500 index after the close of trading on Monday, June 30:

-- AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) will replace Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC). Countrywide is being acquired by S&P 100 and S&P 500 constituent Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) in a deal expected to close on or about that date, pending final approvals.

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

AK Steel produces carbon flat-rolled steel for the automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets. Headquartered in West Chester, OH, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Steel Sub-Industry index.

    Following is a summary of the change:

                        S&P 500 INDEX - June 30, 2008
             COMPANY           GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR      GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED    AK Steel          Materials                 Steel
    DELETED  Countrywide
              Financial        Financials                Thrifts & Mortgage
                                                          Finance

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 $1.32 trillion invested and $4.91 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, 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: www. standardandpoors.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2007 were $6.8 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's