Press

The U.S. regulatory agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has approved trading in four Eurex products for the U.S. market effective immediately. The approval comprises futures on the SLI Swiss Leader Index®, the SMIM® (Swiss Market Index Midcap), the Dow Jones Euro STOXX® Select Dividend 30 index and the TecDAX®.

Heike Eckert, Executive Vice President responsible for Eurex’s activities in the U.S. said, “We are delighted to offer U.S. customers exposure to the Swiss stock index market for the first time. The U.S. is one of Eurex’s most important markets. The approval of additional products gives our U.S. participants new trading and diversification opportunities.”

The approval for the SLI and SMIM futures for the first time enables Eurex customers in the U.S. to trade Swiss stock index products. The blue chip index SLI includes the 30 largest (by market capitalization) and most liquid stocks traded in the Swiss equity market. The SMIM includes the 30 largest and most liquid Swiss mid-cap stocks. The Dow Jones Euro STOXX Select Dividend 30 tracks the highest-dividend-yielding companies from the euro zone countries. TecDAX is Deutsche Börse’s index for mid-sized companies (mid caps) from the technology sector. Beginning with capitalizations ranked immediately below the DAX®, TecDAX includes 30 technology sector stocks listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

U.S. customers are already able to trade Eurex’s benchmark products, including futures on the DJ EURO STOXX® 50 index and DAX, as well as the Euro-Schatz, Euro-Bobl, Euro-Bund and Euro-Buxl® interest rate derivatives. The trading volume generated directly in the U.S. by CFTC-approved index products currently constitutes up to 21 percent of the total Eurex volume in those contracts.

Notes to the editors:
Eurex has offered selected products on the U.S. market since its founding in 1998. The CFTC’s “no-action letter” dated August 1999 allows Eurex to admit U.S. participants and defines the range of products that can be traded in the U.S. At present, 76 companies with more than 1,150 authorized traders from the U.S. are connected to the Eurex network.

For the most updated list of CFTC approved products: http://www.eurexchange.com/trading/products/cftc_approved_en.html