New Products and Services from around the Industry
Exchanges
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has launched end-of-month options for its CME S&P 500 and CME E-mini S&P 500 index futures, using a European-style expiration. Five market makers have been selected to help grow electronic end-of-month options for the CME E-mini S&P 500 equity options markets. www.cme.com.
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has approved Muehlstein Americas LLC as the first Own Brand Distributor (OBD) for the LME's polypropylene and linear low density polyethylene futures contracts. www.lme.co.uk.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) will launch options on the CBOE Exchange Index (EXQ), an index based on stock prices of publicly traded U.S. exchanges, pending approval. The Index is composed of the of CBOT Holdings Inc. (BOT), CME Holdings Inc., Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), International Securities Exchange Inc. (ISE), Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NDAQ) and NYSE Group Inc. (NYX) stock. CBOE also will publish two new indexes, under an agreement
with the Russell Investment Group, based on the Russell 2000 Index: the CBOE Russell 2000 BuyWrite Index (BXR) and the CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index (RVX). Both will be based on prices of the Russell 2000 Index options (RUT) traded at CBOE. www.cboe.com.
The Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Ltd. have developed a new Middle East sour crude futures contract to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2006. www.dubaimerc.com.
Eurex has launched options with weekly expiration dates on the benchmark indexes DAX, Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 and SMI. www.deutsche-boerse.com.
Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes (DJI) and the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges (CASE) have launched the Dow Jones CASE Egypt Titans 20 Index. The index follows the methodology of the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 and includes 20 Egyptian stocks ranked by free-float market capitalization, sales/revenue and net income. DJI also has launched the Dow Jones Europe Country Select Dividend Indexes for France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K, to complement its Select Dividend index family. www.djindexes.com.
DJI will launch 10 customized, subsector indexes selected from large- and small-cap stocks. Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has licensed the indexes to serve as the basis for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that will be available in May. The new indexes are the Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index, Oil Equipment & Services Index, Health Care Providers Index, Medical Equipment Index, Pharmaceuticals Index, Insurance Index, Investment Services Index, Home Builders Index, Aerospace and Defense Index and Regional Banks Index. www.djindexes.com/mdsidx.
Brokerage
Calyon Financial now offers access to the Taiwan Futures Exchange (Taifex) and has established an omnibus account with the exchange, providing cross-border trading and investing and allowing the firm’s clients to trade Taifex products without disclosing their identity. www.calyonfinancial.com.
