• New contracts based on Bloomberg corporate bond indexes will bring greater flexibility for risk management

CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, announced that its new credit futures are scheduled to begin trading on Monday, June 17, 2024, pending regulatory review.

Launching alongside the company’s leading U.S. Treasury complex, CME Group credit futures will be the first futures contracts to help market participants manage duration risk through an intercommodity spread with U.S. Treasury futures. In addition, for the first time ever, investors can gain exposure to and manage credit component risk through futures on Bloomberg’s duration-hedged index.

“Since announcing our expansion into credit futures earlier this year, we have received very positive feedback from market participants with exposure to credit, interest rates, equities and other assets,” said  Agha Mirza, CME Group Global Head of Rates and OTC Products. “Designed for efficiency, our credit futures will support spread trading with automatic margin offsets against our Interest Rate and Equity Index futures.”

The contracts will be based on the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Index, which measures the performance of investment grade corporate bonds, and the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Very Liquid Index, which is designed to measure a liquid, diversified component of the high yield corporate bond market.

“CME Group’s upcoming launch of futures based on the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Indices supports the continued advancement of fixed income markets,” said  Umesh Gajria, Global Head of Index Linked Products, Bloomberg Index Services Limited. “These credit futures can provide a capital efficient vehicle for investors to manage their exposures and risks to their bond portfolios through the derivatives market.”

Available to trade on CME Globex and eligible for submission to clearing via CME ClearPort, U.S. Corporate Bond Index futures will be listed with, and subject to, the rules of CME.

Source: CME