NYSE Liffe U.S., the innovative new U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext (NYX), today announced that on September 8 it completed the first day of trading in its first three equity index futures products: MSCI USA Mini Index Futures (ticker: MUN); MSCI Emerging Markets Mini Index Futures (ticker: MME ); and MSCI EAFE Mini Index Futures (tickers: MFS).
On their first day of trading, futures on these three MSCI indices traded a total of 652 contracts on NYSE Liffe U.S. Trading on NYSE Liffe U.S. in the futures on MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFE indices combined totaled 577 contracts, representing approximately 23% of the trading in these contracts across all markets.
“Less than a year after the launch of NYSE Liffe U.S., we are extremely pleased to offer our customers our first equity index futures based on the MSCI USA, MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFE indices,” said Thomas F. Callahan, NYSE Euronext Executive Vice President, Head of U.S. Futures. “Our goal has always been to offer products and services across multiple asset classes, enhancing liquidity in the U.S. futures markets and opening the door to the unique efficiencies and competitive advantages the NYSE Euronext family can provide, like the Futures Incentive Program between NYSE Liffe U.S. and NYSE Arca. These are the first of many MSCI products we plan to introduce in the months ahead.”
“MSCI is proud to have licensed our indices as the basis for these inaugural equity index products trading on NYSE Liffe U.S. ,” said David Brierwood, Chief Operating Officer, MSCI Inc. “We are excited that NYSE Liffe U.S. is using MSCI’s widely followed investable benchmarks to bring index-based products to the futures marketplace.”
As the first products launched under a broad licensing agreement with global index provider MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB), these contracts represent NYSE Liffe U.S. ’s initial expansion into a diverse new product base offering investors highly-efficient global equity market exposure. These new futures contracts provide asset managers with efficient hedging and trading tools based on the same MSCI indices already followed by thousands of institutional investors around the world.
NYSE Liffe US launched trading in September 2008 as a fully electronic, liquid market for 100 oz. gold futures, 5,000 oz. silver futures, options on gold and silver futures, and mini-sized 33.2 oz. gold and 1,000 oz. silver futures. NYSE Liffe US utilizes the proven LIFFE CONNECT® trading platform designed and maintained by NYSE Technologies. The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) acts as clearing house for NYSE Liffe US futures contracts tied to MSCI indices, as well as all ETF options and index options trading on NYSE Arca, creating the opportunity for unparalleled margin efficiencies for NYSE Euronext customers.
