Boston, June 22, 2006 -- State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) and the largest institutional money manager in the world*, today launched six industry-specific exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the American Stock Exchange® (Amex® ): SPDR® Metals & Mining ETF (XME); SPDR Pharmaceuticals ETF (XPH); SPDR Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (XES); SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP); SPDR Retail ETF (XRT);and streetTRACKS® KBW Regional Banking SM ETF (KRE).

These ETFs provide financial advisors with access to the following industry sectors:

• SPDR Metals & Mining ETF â€" metals/mining and coals/consumable fuels companies
• SPDR Pharmaceuticals ETF â€" pharmaceutical companies
• SPDR Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF â€" oil/gas equipment/services companies and oil/gas drilling firms
• SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF â€" oil/gas exploration and production; coal/consumable fuels; oil/gas refining and marketing; and integrated oil/gas companies
• SPDR Retail ETF â€" retailing, consumer durables/apparel and food/staples retailing companies; and
• streetTRACKS KBW Regional Banking ETF â€" primarily small and mid-capitalization regional banks and thrifts.

The SPDR ETFs are benchmarked to the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Select Industry Indexes. The streetTRACKS KBW Regional Banking ETF (KRE) is benchmarked to the KBW Regional Banking Index1 (Ticker: KRX) which consists of regional banks and thrifts with market capitalizations ranging from $700 million to $10 billion. KRE is the latest addition to the family of tradable ETFs and indices of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods which track the performance of the insurance, banking and capital markets industries within the financial services sector of the S&P 500 Index.

"At a time when investors are seeking new options in search of the potential for higher returns or more refined portfolio construction, these ETFs provide a real benefit through their precise exposure to targeted industries," said Greg Ehret, senior managing director of SSgA. "Our ability to provide investment options that enable access to precise market segments underscores our ongoing commitment to the evolving needs of professional investors."

The S&P Select Industry Indexes are constructed from a universe of more than 5,000 securities that collectively comprise the S&P Total Market Index (S&P TMI). The S&P TMI measures the performance of common equities listed on NYSE, Amex, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. Each S&P Select Industry Index is constructed with an equal-weighted methodology and is rebalanced quarterly. This rebalancing prevents a few select stocks from dominating the performance of the index.

SSgA currently has about $90 billion in ETF assets under management worldwide (at March 31, 2006) and is one of the largest providers in the U.S. and globally, with a market share of more than 19 percent. ** SSgA continues to experience significant demand for these investment strategies and today manages a total of 65 ETFs worldwide.

"Amex is proud of our longtime relationship with State Street Global Advisors, and the launch of these ETFs is a further example of our ability to team up with issuer partners to provide innovative investment vehicles to the market" said Cliff Weber, senior vice president of the Amex ETF Marketplace. "These ETFs accommodate a growing demand from investors that are seeking targeted ETFs to complement their investment portfolios."