Growth of Stock-Index Products to Slow Because of Market Crash, Officials Say
The stock market's plunge is likely to slow the proliferation of stock-index futures products for at least a few months, according to many in the futures industry.</br></br>Over the past several years, a surge in new stock-index futures trading vehicles has changed the face of major futures exchanges. At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, trading in the Standard & Poor's Corp. 500-stock index reached nearly 20 million contracts last year. That represented a tenfold rise since 1982 and is more than the total of all futures trading in the U.S. in 1972. Eleven proposals for stock-index products currently are pending before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.</br></br>That regulatory body isn't likely to approve any new stock-index proposals, however, until the current turbulence eases in the stock market itself, some industry officials say.</br></br>"I don't think there's any doubt there will be an impact" on approval of stock-index proposals as a result of the stock market's wild gyrations since mid-October, Robert Wilmouth, president of the National Futures Association, said.</br></br>CFTC officials said they are placing a higher priority on studying recent market events than on approving new contracts. A spokeswoman said the commission doesn't have any stock-index proposals on its calendar for review at present.