Regulators Could Back Single-Stock Futures

March 6, 2000

U.S. securities and futures regulators need time to draft a detailed framework for legalizing and regulating futures on single U.S. stocks, REUTERS reported.

Although futures on broad-based stock indices are actively traded, it is illegal to list futures on a single issue. Some foreign jurisdictions do permit single-stock futures, though, and U.S. futures exchanges have questioned the nearly 20-year-old ban as Congress considers reauthorizing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Congressional committee leaders asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to report on the issue. In a letter sent to lawmakers on Thursday, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt and CFTC Chairman William Rainer said they had agreed in principle to share oversight of single-stock futures, but still had to work out how best to do so.