Exchanges
CME Group launched futures on the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index, the preeminent benchmark debt index for U.S. investment-grade fixed income securities.
Also, CME Group now offers electronic trading for weekly FX options on futures, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and Australian dollar, all trading against the U.S. dollar.
Also, CME Group is listing options on ethanol futures on on e-cbot, and will list them on Globex in January. Clearing services will be offered for cash-settled options on ethanol futures and ethanol calendar swaps will be offered this fall.
Also, CME Group introduced clearing services for OTC ethanol basis swaps. Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) will provide the cash market prices used to calculate the daily settlement.
Also, five products in the dairy complex will be offered on Globex, including: futures and options on futures for Nonfat Dry Milk and Class IV Milk, options on futures for Dry Whey, Class III Milk and Cash-Settled Butter; Nonfat Dry Milk, Class IV Milk and Class III products continue to pit trade during regular hours.
The New York Board of Trade announced a new Robusta Coffee futures contract will begin trading on ICE’s electronic platform. The new contract will be listed alongside the world’s largest coffee futures contract, NYBOT’s Coffee “C” Arabica futures contract. Trading of inter-commodity spreads between the Robusta and Arabica futures contracts will be available on a single platform. Options on the Robusta futures began trading on October 1 on the NYBOT trading floor only, and will trade in the same ring as the Coffee “C” options. www.theice.com.
The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. has launched a new alternative energy equity index futures contract on CME Globex and NYMEX ClearPort. The contract will be based on the Ardour Global XL Index, which is comprised of 30 well-capitalized, liquid and publicly traded companies, and seeks to provide exposure to a range of businesses that contribute to the growth and development of the alternative energy industry. The contract will be cash-settled. www.nymex.com.
Liffe announced it has launched two futures contracts on indices that track the performance of European real estate companies: the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index (EPRA) and the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index (EPEU), which are benchmarks in Europe for investments in listed real estate companies. The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index covers approximately 100 listed real estate companies based in 15 European countries. The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index covers approximately 50 real-estate companies based in nine Euro Zone countries. Also, JPMorgan and Liffe have partnered to introduce the JPMorgan IPOX Europe 50 Index Futures contract, a bespoke product on Bclear. The index measures the share price performance of the top 50 European companies ranked quarterly by market capitalization and selected from the underlying IPOX Composite Europe Index, a leading benchmark for the performance of European IPOs and spin-offs. www.euronext.com.
Technology
DailyFX.com has redesigned and expanded its online economic calendar. For each economic indicator listed, a commentary button reveals: complete release schedule, definition of the event. relevance and influence on a particular currency, government source and web address, analysis posted within minutes of the release.
eSignal announces QuoteTrader, a free broker-neutral, multi-asset-class trade management and charting platform providing simultaneous access to multiple brokerage accounts. www.Quote.com/QuoteTrader.
DreamLife Games LLC has released The Millionaire Maker Game, an educational board game designed to expand financial minds and is based on the book “The Millionaire Maker: Act, Think, and Make Money the Way the Wealthy Do.” by Loral Langemeier. By rolling dice, choosing cards and participating in the foundational building blocks that create a Wealth Cycle, players have 60 minutes to the make the best, strategic business decisions they can to end up with highest net worth. The player with the highest net worth wins! www.TheMillionaireMakerGame.com.
Investment Technology Group Inc. (ITG) has added Dynamic Implementation Shortfall (Dynamic IS) to the ITG AlgorithmsSM suite of trading tools. This list-based algorithm is designed for portfolio and quantitative traders whose main objective is to trade opportunistically according to real-time market conditions to minimize trading costs and manage risk while optimizing the entire portfolio. www.itg.com.
Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes launched the Barron’s 400 Index, which tracks the performance of highly-liquid U.S. stocks, highlighting America’s most promising companies. Components are equal weighted and industries are capped at 20% of the index to ensure diversification. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are ineligible for inclusion. Also, Dow Jones Indexes announced the Barron’s 400 Index will serve as the basis of a structured note issued by Morgan Stanley. www. HYPERLINK "djindexes.com" djindexes.com.
