FAST Fastenal Company

NEW YORK, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's will make the following changes to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 indices: -- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (NYSE:FRE) will be removed from the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Wednesday, September 10. Its place in the S&P 500 will be taken by Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM), which will be added after the close of trading on Friday, September 12. As of today's close of trading Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. had a market capitalization of approximately $614 million, whereas the minimum market cap a company must maintain in order to be eligible for admission to the index is $5 billion. -- Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE:FNM) will be removed from the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Wednesday, September 10. Its place in the S&P 500 will be taken by S&P MidCap 400 constituent Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ:FAST), which will be added after the close of trading on Friday, September 12. Fastenal will be replaced in the S&P MidCap 400 by S&P SmallCap 600 and S&P REIT Composite constituent Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE:ESS), and Essex Property Trust will be replaced in the S&P SmallCap 600 by Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF), all after the close of trading on Friday, September 12. As of today's close of trading Federal National Mortgage Association had a market capitalization of approximately $1.04 billion, whereas the minimum market cap a company must maintain in order to be eligible for admission to the index is $5 billion. -- United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ:UTHR) will replace Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:LEE) in the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading on Friday, September 12. As of today's close of trading Lee Enterprises had a market capitalization of approximately $151 million, ranking 400th in the index. Standard & Poor's will monitor these transactions, and post any relevant updates on its website: http://www.standardandpoors.com/. Salesforce.com provides on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) services to businesses and industries worldwide. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Application Software Sub-Industry index. Fastenal sells industrial and construction supplies. Headquartered in Winona, MN, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS Trading Companies & Distributors Sub-Industry index. Essex Property Trust is a real estate investment trust specializing in apartment communities. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Residential REITs Sub-Industry index. Stifel Financial offers securities-related financial services in the U.S. and Europe, including brokerage, trading, investment banking, and investment advisory services. Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Investment Banking & Brokerage Sub-Industry index. United Therapeutics develops and commercializes therapeutic products for patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases. Headquartered in Silver Spring, MD, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Biotechnology Sub-Industry index. Following is a summary of the changes: S&P 500 INDEX - September 10, 2008 COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY DELETED Federal Home Loan Financials Thrifts & Mortgage Mortgage Corp. Finance DELETED Federal National Financials Thrifts & Mortgage Mortgage Association Finance S&P 500 INDEX - September 12, 2008 COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ADDED Salesforce.com Information Technology Application Software ADDED Fastenal Industrials Trading Companies & Distributors S&P MIDCAP 400 INDEX - September 12, 2008 COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ADDED Essex Property Trust Financials Residential REITs United Therapeutics Health Care Biotechnology DELETED Fastenal Industrials Trading Companies & Distributors Lee Enterprises Consumer Discretionary Publishing S&P SMALLCAP 600 INDEX - September 12, 2008 COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ADDED Stifel Financial Financials Investment Banking & Brokerage DELETED Essex Property Trust Financials Residential REITs 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 http://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/. DATASOURCE: Standard & Poor's CONTACT: David M. Blitzer, Ph.D. Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee +1-212-438-3907 Web site: http://www.standardandpoors.com/ http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices

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