S&P, Fiserv to Launch Home Price Indices

Standard & Poor's has announced that it is joining forces with MacroMarkets and Fiserv to publish the S&P/Case-Shiller Metro Area Home Price Indices.The indices, scheduled to launch in the second quarter, will include 10 individual metropolitan area indices and a weighted composite index of home prices, S&P said. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange will list futures and options contracts on the indices. The foundation of the new, tradable indices are the Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes produced commercially by Case Shiller Weiss Inc. since 1991. (Fiserv bought CSW in 2002 to form Fiserv CSW.) "For the vast majority of Americans, their home is their largest and most valuable asset, and in a period of rising housing prices and increased concerns about a possible housing bubble, reliable information on their biggest asset is extremely important," said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of S&P's Index Committee. The companies can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com, http://www.macromarkets.com, http://www.fiserv.com, and http://www.cme.com.