CHICAGO, November 12, 2009 – CME Group Inc., the world’s largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of trading and clearing services for three new Argus Sour Crude Index (“ASCI”) swap futures contracts and an Argus WTI formula basis calendar month swap futures contract. Trading for all four will be available on the New York trading floor and clearing services will be available through CME ClearPort^®, a set of flexible clearing services open to over-the-counter (OTC) market participants to substantially mitigate counterparty risk and provide neutral settlement prices across asset classes. Trading and clearing are scheduled to begin on November 22 for trade date November 23. These contracts will be listed by and subject to the rules and regulations of NYMEX. 

The swap futures contracts and commodity codes will be: ASCI vs. WTI diff spread trade month (36); ASCI calendar month (37); ASCI vs. WTI diff spread calendar month (38); and Argus WTI formula basis calendar month (39). These products are in addition to the ASCI trade month swap futures contract (29) that was announced on October 30.

The ASCI swap futures contracts will accommodate market participants who wish to either hedge or otherwise lock-in a transaction at a set value for the ASCI. Users can include those who already have or anticipate having floating-price risk with respect to the ASCI either as a seller or buyer. The ASCI swap futures can also be utilized to hedge transactions for individual crude streams, such as its Mars, Poseidon and Southern Green Canyon components. In addition, they can be used for spread trading, in particular the sweet-sour spread, which would involve a combination of buying WTI and selling ASCI futures or selling WTI and buying ASCI futures.

The first listed month will be the December 2009 contract, and they will be listed for 36 consecutive months.

For more information please visit www.cmegroup.com/clearport.

As the world’s largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk.  CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate.   CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago.  CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the largest central counterparty clearing services in the world, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort®.   These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets. 

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 www.cmegroup.com. 

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