Nasdaq Liffe Markets To Offer More Russell ETF Futures

Nasdaq Liffe Markets, LLC (NQLX) will offer four additional futures contracts on the Russell iShares products beginning February 24, 2003. This is in addition to the futures contracts on three Russell iShares products already active on NQLX. The new listings are:

These exchange traded funds are managed by Barclays Global Fund Advisors, a subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors, N.A., the largest manager of indexed products in the world. NQLX currently offers ETF futures on the iShares Russell 1000 (IWB), iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), iShares Russell 3000 (IWV), and the Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock (QQQ) ETF products.

Russell is a leading provider of a comprehensive series of style indexes. Based on research showing that major investing styles move in and out of favor over time, Russell developed separate benchmarks for tracking growth and value stocks. To create its style indexes, Russell groups companies according to higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values (growth companies) and lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values (value companies). When company stock characteristics don't allow for absolute style distinction, Russell's indexes represents them as both growth and value stocks.

"As our market grows and we build our product base, futures on the Russell-based ETF products are a key addition. We believe the investing public desires a wide variety of ETF futures products and NQLX's ETF futures complex provides that product diversity," said NQLX CEO Tom Ascher.

"As global leaders in multi-manager investing, Russell designed its style indexes to help investors with multi-manager, multi-style investing," said Kelly Haughton, strategic director, Russell indexes. "NQLX now will offer four attractive tools based on these style indexes that should benefit investment advisors and their clients as well as direct investors."

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). It lists security futures on both exchange-traded funds and the largest U.S. companies through LIFFE's electronic trading platform, LIFFE CONNECT^™. For more information on NQLX, visit: www.nqlx.com