Nasdaq Liffe Markets Announces List Of 50 Stocks For Single Stock Futures Trading

Nasdaq Liffe Markets, LLC, (NQLX) on February 5 announced a preliminary list of 50 stocks that it expects to list as single stock futures (SSFs) on NQLX. NQLX is a fully electronic, federally regulated exchange formed as a joint venture between The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.® and LIFFE (London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange).

The preliminary list includes some of the most active stocks currently traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq markets, including Microsoft, AOL Time Warner, Compaq, IBM, Coca-Cola, GE, Cisco, Dell, Oracle and Home Depot. (A full listing of the stocks, subject to change, is attached.)

Contract specifications for the physically delivered SSFs contracts also have been determined, subject to regulatory approval. Each futures contract is for 100 shares of stock, with prices quoted as dollars per share. The minimum price movement (tick size) is $0.01 per share, ($1.00 per contract). Trading hours for NQLX's SSFs will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:02 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Delivery months span the first five quarterly months in a March, June, September, December cycle and include the nearest two serial months, making trading available more than a year forward. The last trading day of an SSF contract is the third Friday of its delivery month.

Bob Fitzsimmons, president of NQLX, said that the response thus far from futures and securities firms regarding the new SSFs has been encouraging. "Just a few weeks ago, we completed a series of detailed briefings in Chicago and New York before more than 300 firm representatives from both the securities and futures industries, and the enthusiasm for this new NQLX product is evident. We're pleased that we've hit a responsive chord, and that our audience realized how much work has already been done to move this project forward."

According to Fitzsimmons, SSFs will be just the beginning of new product introductions for NQLX. "Pending regulatory approval, we are also looking forward to eventually bringing other innovative products like futures on the QQQs, an exchange-traded fund based upon the Nasdaq 100, to our market. We plan to list both broad-based and narrow-based indices, but right now we're putting a full- throttle effort into single stock futures. With our parents' tremendous experience and staff from both the securities and futures arenas, we believe we have an advantage as introduction nears."

Nasdaq Liffe Markets Initial Stock Listing (as of February 1, 2002)[1]

[1]The stocks listed above are subject to modification.