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

NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P SmallCap 600 constituent The Dress Barn Inc. (Nasdaq: DBRN) will replace Terra Industries  Inc. (NYSE: TRA) in the S&P MidCap 400 index, and NorthWestern Corp. (NYSE: NWE) will replace The Dress Barn in the S&P SmallCap 600 index after the close of trading on Friday, April 9.  Terra Industries is being acquired by S&P 500 constituent CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) in an exchange offer expected to be completed on or about that date, pending final results.

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

Dress Barn operates a chain of women's apparel specialty stores. Headquartered in Suffern, NY, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Apparel Retail Sub-Industry index.  

NorthWestern provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Multi-Utilities Sub-Industry index.  

Following is a summary of the changes:

S&P  MIDCAP 400 INDEX  –  April 9, 2010
	COMPANY	GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR	GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
ADDED	Dress Barn	Consumer Discretionary	Apparel Retail
DELETED	Terra Industries	Materials	Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals

S&P  SMALL CAP 600 INDEX  –  April 9, 2010
	COMPANY	GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR	GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
ADDED	NorthWestern	Utilities	Multi-Utilities
DELETED	Dress Barn	Consumer Discretionary	Apparel Retail

About S&P Indices

S&P Indices, 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.

About Standard & Poor's

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 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.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's

Copyright il 5 PR Newswire