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The NYFE contracts are the only exchange-listed derivatives that reflect the performance of the new NYSE Composite Index. Two new futures contracts based on the revised Index are available: a contract with a nominal size of $50 times the Index (called the regular contract), and a contract with a nominal size of $5 times the Index (called the small contract). Options based on the new regular contract will begin trading on March 10. The New York Futures Exchange has offered a stock index futures contract based on the NYSE Composite Index since 1982.
"We are pleased that the NYBOT has launched the trading of index futures on the revised NYSE Composite Index," said NYSE President Catherine R. Kinney. "The revised index provides investors with a fine-tuned metric for the aggregate performance of stocks that meet NYSE standards and reflect the pricing stability of our auction market."
"We value our historical relationship with the NYSE and its index, and we applaud its effort to reintroduce the index to make it an even better tool for both equity investors and futures investors," said Charles H. Falk, Chairman of the New York Board of Trade. "The complex of futures and options based on the NYSE Composite offer institutional and individual investors the opportunity to take positions that reflect a broad-based, high-quality equity market."
The NYSE Composite Index represents 82% of the total market capitalization of all publicly-traded companies in the United States and 57% of such companies worldwide. The NYSE Composite consists of 2,083 U.S. and non-U.S. stocks as of November 7, 2002. The NYSE Composite Index has outperformed all other broad-based indexes for the past year and in the past three and five years.
The NYSE Composite Index was updated in January 2003 under a new transparent rule-based methodology that measures the performance of all NYSE-listed common stocks, ADRs, tracking stocks and REITs, but excludes closed-end funds, ETFs, and derivatives-making it a more accurate gauge of the NYSE performance by eliminating the possibility of double-counting components. Additionally, the NYSE Composite Index moved from a full market cap weighting to a float-adjusted market cap weighting to account for only those shares available for trading. The new Index is now a fully-investable benchmark.
Trading Information
As part of a transition from the old index to the revised Index, the new futures contracts based on the revised Index will trade alongside the existing ("old") NYSE Composite Index futures until the expiration of the September 2003 contracts. No "old" NYSE Composite Index futures or options will be listed beyond that date.
The revised Index (YU) specifications, vendor symbols, broker listings and other information on trading the contracts are available on NYBOT's website at www.nybot.com. The NYBOT continues to use the symbol YX for both the regular and small futures contracts based on the "old" NYSE Index and the "old" NYSE Index value itself. NYBOT is using the symbol YU to designate the revised NYSE Index. Real-time streaming market data for NYSE Composite futures and for all the other NYBOT markets is now available directly over the Internet at www.NYBOTLIVE.com.
The NYSE continues to provide data for the old Index through the transition period, which ends on September 18, 2003. The NYSE began to broadcast "new" Index values based on the revised Index on January 9, 2003. The Index value for the new Index was 4637.97 as of March 6. At the close of business on the NYSE on March 5, the Index value for the "old" NYSE Composite Index was 442.17. The values for the new NYSE Composite Index are broadcast under the symbol NYA (previously used for the "old" Index). The NYSE is using the symbol NYZ to designate the values disseminated for the "old" Index.
The NYBOT's New York Futures Exchange, Inc. (NYFE) index subsidiary provides futures and options markets based on several equity and commodity indexes. The NYFE began trading futures contracts based on the NYSE Composite Index in 1982 and options on the index in 1983. Since its founding, NYFE has introduced several other key index products including futures and options contracts based on the Reuters CRB Futures Price Index and the Russell 1000® Index.
The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) is the parent company of the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange, Inc. (CSCE) and the New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE). Through its two exchanges and their subsidiaries and divisions, NYBOT offers an expanding range of agricultural, currency and index products.
