CFTC

SEC Petitions For Rehearing Of CBT Dow Index Case

The Securities and Exchange Commission has petitioned the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a case involving the SEC's denial of the Chicago Board of Trade request to trade futures and options on Dow Jones indexes representing the utilities and transportation sectors. The court had reversed the SEC ruling, suggesting that the SEC decision was intended to promote the securities industry at the expense of futures exchanges. The SEC says that Congress intended to allow futures trading only on "broad-based" stock index products and that the two Dow indexes do not represent a broad enough segment of the equities market to prevent the possibility of market manipulation. (Securities Week, 10/4/99, p. 1)

CFTC Staff Reports That U.S. Futures Markets Remain Global Competitors

The CFTC's Division of Economic Analysis has issued a report finding, among other things, that total U.S. and foreign futures and options trading volume have increased significantly in recent years, and that the increased competition among larger segments of the global futures industry, particularly in Europe, may reflect industry restructuring and the introduction of new technologies, particularly electronic trading. The report, entitled "The Global Competitiveness of U.S. Futures Markets Revisited" is found on the CFTC Web site at http://www.cftc.gov/dea/dea.html. (http://www.cftc.gov/dea/dea.html, 11/99)