NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Standard & Poor's said Monday it will begin offering indices for international government bonds to create a benchmark for sovereign debt excluding U.S. Treasurys. The S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond Series will include two indices: one for debt maturing in more than one year and one for debt maturing in one to three years, S&P said in a statement. The indices are intended to help investors track the performance of this asset class that is "often overlooked by investors," James Rieger, vice president of S&P's index services, said in a release. "They have returns with low correlations with U.S. stocks and bond as well as international stocks." Nations outside the U.S. had $9.5 trillion in debt outstanding as of December 2007, according to S&P. The top three issuers in the indices, which will be rebalanced every month, are currently Japan, Germany and Italy.
