NEW YORK, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor's business, today announced that the standard Compustat databases have been expanded to include data history starting in 1979. This will initially provide up to 30 years of annual and quarterly fundamental data as well as monthly and daily market data. This data history expansion enables analysts to access more historical data in a base package than other competitors can offer, making the database a more efficient and effective solution for their quantitative research needs.

  The expanded base package provides the following benefits:

  --  Analysts' ability to conduct all levels of quantitative research are
      strengthened with the additional fundamental and market data history

  --  Clients will have fundamental and market (pricing) data that includes
      the previous significant economic downturn (1987)

  --  With a fixed start date of 1979, the "current" database will continue
      to grow going forward. A rolling 20-year database loses the oldest
      data with an annual production. This will make financial models more
      effective and efficient

"Financial professionals around the world rely on our data and company fundamentals for its quality, transparency, and the ability to utilize large quantities of information in new and interesting ways," said Randall Winn, executive managing director for Capital IQ. "During the current economic climate, we understand the increased importance of quick access to historical data for analysis and financial models, and are pleased to be able to make this additional history readily available to our clients."

About Capital IQ and Standard & Poor's

Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor's business, delivers comprehensive fundamental and quantitative research and analysis solutions to over 4,200 investment management firms, investment banks, private equity funds, advisory firms, corporations, and universities worldwide. Its solutions are based on the Capital IQ Platform, Compustat, ClariFI, and SystematIQ products, and offer an array of powerful applications for desktop research, screening, real-time market data, backtesting, portfolio management, financial modeling, and quantitative analysis. For more information, please visit Capital IQ's web site at http://www.capitaliq.com/.

Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) , is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices 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 nearly 150 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/.

CONTACT: Rishi Sharma, +1-212-438-2615; risharma@capitaliq.com, or
Monique Helfer, +1-303-721-4760; monique_helfer@standardandpoors.com