"Russell 1000 futures and options will provide our customers with additional flexibility for managing risk or gaining exposure to a broad segment of the market," said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. "In combination with our Russell 2000® and E-mini™ Russell 2000 futures and options, CME will offer exposure to the Russell 3000® universe of stocks, representing 98 percent of the investable U.S. equity market."
"CME is sizing its Russell 1000 futures contract at $100 times the index price, giving each contract an underlying value of approximately $45,000," said CME President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNulty. "Because the size is comparable to many of our most actively traded stock index products, fund managers and other investors can conveniently trade strategies based on a combination of products as well as hedging or gaining outright exposure to the Russell 1000."
"The addition of futures contracts based on the Russell 1000 provides CME traders with a comprehensive large-cap product based on Russell's objective index methodology," says Lori Richards, product manager, Russell Indexes. "A decade ago CME was the first to offer futures based on the Russell 2000, and we're delighted that they plan to broaden their product lineup with another Russell index."
CME plans to launch Russell 1000 futures in the second quarter and may launch options at a later date. The contracts will trade virtually 24 hours per day on CME's GLOBEX® electronic trading platform, from 3:45 p.m. Chicago time (5:30 p.m. on Sundays) until 3:15 p.m. the following business day.
The Russell 1000 measures the performance of the 1,000 largest companies in the Russell 3000 Index and represents approximately 92 percent of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. As of the latest reconstitution, the average market capitalization was approximately $11 billion; the median market capitalization was approximately $3.5 billion. The index had a total market capitalization range of approximately $309 billion to $1.3 billion.
Futures and options on futures on the Russell 2000 began trading on CME in 1993, and CME listed E-mini Russell 2000 futures in 2001. Together, the products traded an average of more than 10,000 contracts daily in January 2003. The Russell 2000 measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index and represents approximately 8 percent of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies based on total market capitalization, which represents approximately 98 percent of the investable U.S. equity market.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in the United States and the second largest exchange in the world for the trading of futures and options on futures. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® around-the-clock electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moves an average of about $1.8 billion per day in settlement payments and manages $27.4 billion in collateral deposits. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME).
Frank Russell Company, a global leader in multi-manager investment services, provides investment products and services in more than 35 countries. Russell manages more than $67 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide representing US$1.6 trillion. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo. For more information, go to www.russell.com.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which can be obtained at its Web site at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
GLOBEX is a registered trademark of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Russell 1000, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 are registered trademarks of the Frank Russell Company and are used herein with permission. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com
