Release: 4525-01
For Release: June 14, 2001

CFTC Staff Allows MEFF Renta Variable’s Futures Contracts Based on the S&P Euro Index and the S&P Europe 350 Index to be Offered and Sold in the United States

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of General Counsel (OGC) issued a no-action letter on June 14, 2001, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of futures contracts based on the S&P Euro Index and the S&P Europe 350 Index traded on the Spanish derivatives exchange, MEFF Renta Variable (MEFF RV).

The S&P Euro Index and the S&P Europe 350 Index are both broad-based, modified capitalization-weighted composite indices designed and administered by Standard and Poors Corporation. Based on data supplied by MEFF RV, the total market capitalizations of the S&P Euro Index and the S&P Europe 350 Index were U.S. $3.7 trillion and U.S. $6.91 trillion, respectively, as of August 31, 2000.

• For information on foreign exchange-traded stock index futures contracts pending no-action approval with the CFTC's OGC, see the Foreign Instrument Approvals & Exemptions Backgrounder at www.cftc.gov/opa/backgrounder/opapart30.htm.

# # #