Derivatives marketplace CME Group has just announced that it will expand its suite of E-mini S&P Select Sector futures with the addition of a new Communication Services Select Sector futures contract. Pending regulatory review, the new product will be available to trade starting Sept. 10, 2018, alongside CME Group’s existing 10 Select Sector futures products.
We are pleased to offer our customers precise exposure to the rapidly-changing communications sector through our suite of E-mini S&P Select Sector Index futures,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index Products and Alternative Investments. “We continue to see strong market demand for liquid, cost-effective and capital-efficient tools to track the same underlying indices as the most popular ETFs.
CME Group’s addition of Communication Services Select Sector futures precedes S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI’s planned revision of its Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) sectors of information technology, consumer discretionary and telecommunications on Sept. 21, 2018. The broadened and renamed Communication Services sector will consist of 26 companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Facebook, Netflix, Google and Disney. The underlying index has an average market cap of $97.2 billion, as of Aug. 8, 2018.
CME Group will provide customers with a fee waiver for Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC) transactions related to this new product to help rebalance exposure between this new sector and existing Select Sector Index futures.
CME Group currently offers E-mini S&P Select Sector futures products in the following sectors: technology, health care, utilities, consumer staples, finance, consumer discretionary, energy, materials, industrial and real estate. In the second quarter of 2018, Select Sector futures traded more than 12,000 contracts per day, an increase of 71 percent compared to the second quarter of 2017.