CME Group Announces the Launch of New Sulfur Dioxide Futures and Options Contracts
June 29 2009 - 5:48PM
PR Newswire (US)
CHICAGO, June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME Group, the world's
largest and most diverse derivatives exchange, today announced the
launch of its new sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission 25-allowance
futures and options contracts. The futures contract will be
available for clearing through CME ClearPort(R), a set of flexible
clearing services open to over the counter (OTC) market
participants to substantially mitigate counterparty risk and
provide capital efficiencies across asset classes, beginning July
12 for trade date July 13. The futures contract will also be
available for trading through CME ClearPort. The options contract
will be available for trading on the New York trading floor
beginning on July 13 for trade date July 14. These contracts are
listed by NYMEX and are subject to NYMEX rules and regulations. The
commodity codes for the vintages of the futures contracts will be:
current vintage or earlier (SNV); vintage 2010 (V10); vintage 2011
(V11); vintage 2012 (V12); vintage 2013 (V13); vintage 2014 (V14);
vintage 2015 (V15); vintage 2016 (V16); vintage 2017 (V17); vintage
2018 (V18); vintage 2019 (V19); and vintage 2020 (V20). The new
options contract commodity code will be S2. The Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 set a
goal of reducing annual sulfur dioxide emissions. Reductions in SO2
emissions are facilitated through a market-based cap and trade
system -- the centerpiece of the EPA's Acid Rain Program. The new
sulfur dioxide contracts will allow more flexibility in trading
attributable to the vintage mechanism of this product. Compliance
emitters under the EPA's Program can now have physically delivered
previous vintage SO2 certificates for compliance purposes. The
contracts will be 25 SO2 emission allowance units in size with a
minimum price fluctuation of $0.10 per SO2 emission allowance
($2.50 per contract). The first listed month will be the August
2009 contract. Contracts without a specified vintage year will be
listed for 36 consecutive months. Contracts with a specified
vintage year will be listed for two front months and two front
Decembers. The unit size and termination date differentiate these
contracts from the existing SO2 emission allowance futures and
option contracts, which will continue to be available for trading.
It is intended that these products will be listed for trading as
part of the Green Exchange venture once that venture has sought and
achieved appropriate regulatory status. The Green Exchange venture
will be working with U.S. and European regulators and intends to
seek recognition in the U.S. as a designated contract market and
approval from the FSA in the U.K. CME Group is one of the founding
members of Green Exchange Holdings LLC. For more information,
please visit http://www.cmegroup.com/. CME Group
(http://www.cmegroup.com/) is the world's largest and most diverse
derivatives exchange. Building on the heritage of CME, CBOT and
NYMEX, 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 trading floors in Chicago and New York. By acting
as the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, CME
Clearing virtually eliminates counterparty credit risk. CME
Clearing also offers financial safeguards to help mitigate systemic
risk, providing the security and confidence market participants
need to operate, invest and grow. 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, energy, agricultural commodities,
metals, and alternative investment products such as weather and
real estate. CME Group is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group,
Globex, E-mini and CME ClearPort are trademarks of Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are
trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. NYMEX and
New York Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of New York Mercantile
Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Further information about CME Group and its products can be found
at http://www.cmegroup.com/. CME-G DATASOURCE: CME Group CONTACT:
Media, Anu Ahluwalia, +1-212-299-2439, or Allan Schoenberg,
+1-312-930-8189, , or Investor Contact, John Peschier,
+1-312-930-8491, all of CME Group Web Site: http://www.cme.com/
Copyright