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Investor Confidence Index

November 18, 2003 08:51 GMT

Investor Confidence Shows Slight Increase in November

Investor Confidence Shows Slight Increase in November

State Street's Unique Measure Has Been at the Vanguard of More Positive Economic Indicators Since Launch in September 2003

Summary

FAQs

Boston, MA, November 18, 2003- State Street Associates, a subsidiary of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), the world's leading specialist in meeting the needs of institutional investors, released today the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index^SM for November 2003.

According to the November data, the index shows that investor confidence rose 1.2 points to 106.2 from a revised October level of 105.0. This increase consolidates the trend seen throughout much of 2003, with confidence rising from a level of 87.2 at the beginning of the year.

Developed by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and Paul O'Connell of State Street Associates, the index shows that institutional investors continue to be upbeat about the economic environment, although their enthusiasm has moderated somewhat in the recent month.

"Institutional investors were somewhat more discriminating in their attitude to risk this month," said Froot. "During that time, we saw relatively larger fluctuations in their appetite to hold risky assets. However, the buying of these assets ended the period on a strong note, pushing our index to a new high for the year."

Launched in September 2003, the State Street Investor Confidence Index^SM combines a model of global investor behavior with information that tracks the common buying patterns of higher-risk investments by institutional investors around the world. Because the index is an unbiased quantitative measure of the investment behavior of thousands of institutional investors, it is not directly tied to good or bad news, or to the price of stocks, bonds or other assets.

Media Advisory:

State Street will host a media roundtable on the index on Wednesday, November 19^th at 11:00am in the W Hotel at New York Times Square, 1567 Broadway at 47th Street. Speakers will include Ken Froot and Paul O' Connell. To register, please contact publicrelations@statestreet.com.

About State Street Associates:

Founded in 1999 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, State Street Associates develops portfolio and flow research, currency management, asset allocation services and designs strategy tools to support the needs of global portfolio managers.

About the State Street Investor Confidence Index^SM

The index will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern Time in Boston on the second to last Tuesday of each month and released globally. More information on the State Street Investor Confidence Index, and a calendar of release dates, is available at http://www.statestreet.com/investorconfidenceindex. The previous month's calculations for the index will be revised to account for trading activity through the end of the reporting period.

About State Street

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is the world's leading specialist in providing institutional investors with investment servicing, investment management, research and analytics and trading services. With $8.8 trillion in assets under custody and $965 billion in assets under management (as of September 30, 2003), State Street operates in 23 countries and more than 100 markets worldwide.

This news announcement contains forward-looking statements as defined by United States securities laws, including statements about the financial outlook and business environment. Those statements are based on current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including those related to the pace at which State Street adds new clients or at which existing clients use additional services, the value of global and regional financial markets, the pace of cross-border investment activity, changes in interest rates, the pace of worldwide economic growth and rates of inflation, the extent of volatility in currency markets, consolidations among clients and competitors, State Street's business mix, the dynamics of markets State Street serves, and State Street's success at integrating and converting acquisitions into its business. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by any forward-looking statements are set forth in State Street's 2002 annual report and subsequent SEC filings. State Street encourages investors to read the corporation's annual report, particularly the section on factors that may affect financial results, and its subsequent SEC filings for additional information with respect to any forward-looking statements and prior to making any investment decision. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, November 18, 2003, and the company will not undertake efforts to revise those forward-looking statements to reflect events after this date.