CFTC Staff Allows The Mercato Italiano Dei Derivati’s Futures Contracts Based On The S&P/MIB Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of General Counsel issued a no-action letter on August 30, 2004, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of the Mercato Italiano Dei Derivati’s (“IDEM’s”) futures contracts based on the S&P/MIB Index (“S&P/MIB”)—the S&P/MIB Futures Contract and the miniFutures Contract.

The S&P/MIB is a broad-based, free-float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted security index designed to reflect the overall performance of the Italian equity market. Based on data supplied by IDEM, the total adjusted market capitalization of the S&P/MIB was approximately U.S. $282.4 billion as of May 13, 2004.