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CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse exchange, and MSCI Barra, a leading global provider of benchmark indices and risk management analytics products, today announced the signing of a license agreement to permit CME Group to offer E-mini futures on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, one of the most recognized benchmarks for emerging markets around the world, scheduled to begin trading October 22.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a free float-adjusted market capitalization index, contains more than 800 leading securities of the largest and most liquid companies from 25 emerging market countries. The countries in this index include some of the fastest growing global economies today, making the index a valuable tool in many trading strategies.
"The global emerging markets sector is one of the top performing asset classes this decade," said CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy. "Futures on this highly tradable and volatile index will allow our customers around the world to hedge their risk or gain exposure to the emerging markets with virtually no counterparty risk."
"Our comprehensive offerings that make up CME Group's suite of equity index products enable our customers to synthetically replicate the world's equity benchmarks," said CME Group Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. "We are the leading exchange to offer futures on the major U.S. stock indexes as well as global listings, including the E-mini MSCI EAFE(R) contract."
As of June 2007, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index consisted of the following 25 emerging market country indices: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
MSCI Emerging Markets Index futures will be offered on CME Globex,(R) the exchange's electronic trading platform. The cash-settled contract will trade on a March quarterly cycle with a $5.00 tick size.
In March 2006, CME Group launched E-mini contracts on the MSCI EAFE Index. The MSCI EAFE Index is widely recognized as the preeminent benchmark for measuring international stock market performance. It comprises 21 developed market country indices outside of North America. The MSCI EAFE Index also serves as the basis for the second largest exchange traded fund in the world.
About CME Group
CME Group (http://www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse exchange. Formed by the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
