Eurex US Extends Trading Day To 23 Hours - Trading Hour Extension Effective April 3, 2005 - Nandapurkar: Eurex US Offers Trading During Core Business Hours In All Time Zones

Eurex US, the fully electronic U.S. futures and options exchange, announced on Monday that it will be extending its trading day by two hours, from 21 hours to 23 hours, effective April 3, 2005. As of that date trading will begin at 5:00 p.m. Chicago time instead of 7:00 p.m.; the trading day will continue to end at 4:00 p.m. Chicago time on the next calendar day. The extended trading hours will apply to all products at Eurex US. Eurex US currently lists futures and options on 2-, 3-, 5- and 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds and will introduce its first U.S. equity index futures on the Russell 1000® and Russell 2000® indexes on February 4, 2005.

By opening a full two hours earlier, Eurex US creates more trading opportunities for market participants and improves their ability to manage their risk. Furthermore, this modification makes Eurex US the only exchange to offer trading in futures on U.S. Treasury products during the full Asia-Pacific morning.

“Global financial firms are structured for around the clock trading and with this change, Eurex US will meet their needs by offering trading during the core business hours of all time zones,” said Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US. “This extension reinforces Eurex US’ position as a truly global marketplace for trading derivatives.”

With the introduction of the Global Clearing Link, Eurex US will expand its product offering to include futures and options on Euro-denominated interest rate and index products. These products will include benchmark European products such as the fixed income product suite Bund, Bobl and Schatz as well as products on the leading European indices DAX and DJ Euro STOXX 50.