MicroSector Indexes are narrow-based equity indexes that include five of the largest and most actively traded stocks in each sector.
OneChicago is a security futures exchange and Dow Jones Indexes is a leading global index provider and the calculator of the world's best-known financial indexes.
OneChicago Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William J. Rainer said, "OneChicago is pleased to continue a business relationship with Dow Jones Indexes. Futures on MicroSectors are an efficient way to execute spread or sector trades, as well as a host of other trading strategies, with minimal transaction costs."
Mike Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes said, "Dow Jones Indexes is enthusiastic to launch the Dow Jones MicroSector Indexes that have been created in collaboration with OneChicago. These narrow-based indexes are highly correlated to their broader industries and give traders and other market participants an effective tool to plan sector rotation strategies. We are looking forward to expanding our business relationship with OneChicago and expect to cover additional industry groups with narrow-based indexes. We also anticipate that these indexes will underlie cash option contracts offered at the Chicago Board Options Exchange."
Dow Jones MicroSector Indexes are derived from stocks and ADRs in industry groups and subgroups that comprise the Dow Jones Global Indexes. A selection list for each index is created from the top ten eligible stocks in the industry group or subgroup ranked by free-float market capitalization, dollar volume and options volume.
The industry groups and subgroups that underlie the initial Dow Jones MicroSector Indexes are Aerospace, Banks, Biotechnology, Communications Technology, Diversified Financial, Electric Utilities, Diversified Industrial, Investment Services, Major Oil Companies, Pharmaceuticals, Precious Metals, Retail, Semiconductors, Software, Technology Hardware and Equipment.
OneChicago will list futures on eight of the 15 MicroSector Indexes June 23 and will list the remaining seven contracts June 27. (A complete list of the components of the first eight MicroSector futures is at the end of this release.) Each MicroSector future will begin trading the Sep03 and Dec03 quarterly contracts. The MicroSector futures are approximately equal dollar weighted and cash settled at expiration. Each contract has five different stocks with the total number of shares allocated to each sector equaling $40,000 at selection. The tick size is $5.00.
OneChicago Lead Market Makers for MicroSectors include: TD Securities/Quant Stat, TradeLink, Timber Hill (a member of the Interactive Brokers Group), Susquehanna International Group, STAT Capital, Equitec and Chicago Trading Co. Lead Market Makers are obligated to make continuous two-sided markets in their assigned products at OneChicago.
Like all OneChicago products, the MicroSector futures will be electronically traded on the CBOEdirect® match engine and accessible through the CBOEdirect and GLOBEX® platforms. Security futures can be held in either a securities or a futures account.
Historical price data and charts on the MicroSectors are available on OneChicago Analytics,SM a state of the art securities research and analytic system offered through OneChicago's Web site. The service is now available at no charge to registered users of the Exchange's site.
OneChicago is a joint venture of the Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®), Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®). For more information about OneChicago and its products, please access the OneChicago Web site at www.OneChicago.com.
Dow Jones Indexes is a premier global provider of investable indexes, including the Dow Jones Averages, the Dow Jones Global Titans 50, the Pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Indexes, the Dow Jones Asian Titans 50, the Dow Jones Sector Titans 30 and the Dow Jones Country Titans Indexes. Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the world's most vital business and financial news and information. "Dow Jones" and "Dow Jones MicroSector IndexesSM" are service marks of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed by OneChicago, LLC. Futures on the Dow Jones MicroSector Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, and Dow Jones makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. For more information about Dow Jones MicroSector Indexes beginning June 16, visit www.djindexes.com and select "MicroSector Indexes" under "Speciality Indexes."
In addition to Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; dowjones.com) publishes The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva, with Hearst of SmartMoney and with NBC of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
The first eight of the 15 MicroSector futures to be launched and their symbols are:
| Biotechnology (XBTC9C) Amgen Inc. (AMGN) Biogen Inc. (BGEN) Genentech Inc. (DNA) IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. (IDPH) Medimmune Inc. (MEDI) |
Communications Technology (XCMT9C) Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) Juniper Newtworks Inc. (JNPR) Motorola Inc. (MOT) Nokia Corp. ADR (NOK) Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) |
| Precious Metals (XPCS9C) AngloGold Ltd. ADR (AU) Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) Gold Fields Ltd. ADR (GFI) Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. ADR (HMY) Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) |
Retail (XRTS9C) Home Depot Inc. (HD) Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) Lowe’s Cos. (LOW) Target Corp. (TGT) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) |
| Pharmaceutical (XDRG9C) Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) Pfizer Inc. (PFE) |
Diversified Financial (XFIS9C) American Express Co. (AXP) Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) Citigroup Inc. (C) Fannie Mae (FNM) Freddie Mac (FRE) |
| Semiconductors (XSEM9C) Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) Intel Corp. (INTC) KLA – Tencor Corp. (KLAC) Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) |
Software (XSOF9C) Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Oracle Corp. (ORCL) PeopleSoft Inc. (PSFT) Siebel Systems Inc. (SEBL) VERITAS Software Corp. (VRTS) |
