"Based on customer input, we weighted the CME$INDEX to reflect the relative competitiveness of U.S. goods in foreign markets," CME Chairman Terry Duffy said in Chicago. "The first contract expiration to be listed will be June, and the contract will be available both on our trading floors and virtually around the clock on our GLOBEX® electronic trading platform."
"With the CME$INDEX, hedge funds and other professional money managers will have greater ability to manage risk in a portfolio of international equities, fixed income or foreign exchange instruments," said CME President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNulty. "In uncertain times, a tool that provides an efficient and immediate way to gain or reduce broad exposure to the U.S. dollar becomes increasingly useful."
The seven currencies included in the index are: euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, and Swedish krona. The futures contract will be physically deliverable upon expiration. The settlement price of the index futures contract will be computed at termination using futures settlement values of seven currencies, expressed in terms of dollars per unit of foreign currency.
The CME$INDEX is based on the Major Currency Index published by the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Responding to customer input, CME adopted a methodology of annual currency weights that reflects the competition of U.S. goods in world markets. For example, the competitive weight for Canada as computed by the Fed represents the relative competitiveness of U.S. goods against Canadian goods in markets outside of the U.S. and Canada. The currencies and weights for 2003 will be:
| CME$INDEX Component Currencies | |
| Region/Currency | Weight (%) |
| European Union/Euro | 42.2782 |
| Japan/Yen | 29.9536 |
| Unked Kingdorn/Pound | 8.4604 |
| Switzerland/Franc | 8.2871 |
| Australia/Dollar | 4.6461 |
| Canada/Dollar | 4.2086 |
| Sweden/Krona | 2.1660 |
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).
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.
