The Markets August 3, 2007

All S&P Investment Styles See Red in July

Nine U.S. equity investment styles posted negative returns in July, with greatest drop coming from SmallCap 600, according to Standard&Poor’s.
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The grim returns were driven by rising volatility in the U.S. equity market, coupled with deepening liquidity and quality fears, according to S&P.

The average large-cap stock (as determined by the S&P 500) fell 3.1%, the average mid-cap stock (as determined by the S&P MidCap 400) lost 4.3%, and the average small-cap stock (as determined by the S&P SmallCap 600) dropped 5.04%.

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Industrials (+0.48%) and Energy (+0.40%) were the only sectors within the S&P Composite 1500 (an index comprised of the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600) to post positive returns in July. The worst performing sector for the month was Financials, which lost 8.10%.

“July was not kind to equity investors. However, year-to-date, all three benchmarks and eight of the 10 sectors are still in the black, with Energy, Industrials, Materials, and Telecom Services showing double-digit advances,” said Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist of Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services, in a press release.

The three major investment styles continue to show positive returns for the year with the S&P MidCap 400 gaining 7.15%, the S&P 500 rising 3.64%, and the S&P SmallCap 600 increasing 3.07%.

The best performing investment style over the first seven months of the year continues to be mid-cap growth as the S&P MidCap 400/Citigroup Growth Index has gained 9.33% through July.

For more information on Standard & Poor’s indices visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

Deals & People August 3, 2007

MetLife Teams with ProManage to Offer Managed Accounts

MetLife Resources and MetLife Securities, Inc have entered into a new alliance with ProManage, LLC, a registered investment adviser that specializes in providing managed accounts services for 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans.
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According to a press announcement, ProManage will offer its managed accounts to qualified retirement and 403(b) plans sponsored by non-profit organizations and governed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for which MetLife Resources provides administrative services.

ProManage will ease participant asset allocation decisions by utilizing demographic information to allocate participant funds automatically and factoring in projected defined benefit and social security payments to build more appropriate portfolios, Thomas G. Hogan, Jr., senior vice president and head of MetLife Resources, said in the announcement.

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In addition, ProManage assists plan sponsors with their fiduciary responsibility by taking on co-fiduciary responsibility for making allocation decisions for those participants who do not choose to do their own investing. The firm has designed its service to meet the Qualified Default Investment Alternative standards contained in the Department of Labor proposed regulations issued following passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

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