Lugar, Fitzgerald Call for Commodity Bill Approval

September 28, 2000

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar and research subcommittee Chairman Peter Fitzgerald are calling on the Senate to approve the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. They cited a London exchange’s decision to list single stock futures on U.S. securities beginning in January as the latest reason for approving the Senate bill.

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange made the announcement last week. Companies such as AT&T, Citigroup, Cisco Systems, Exxon Mobile, and Merck would be "the subject matter of these products," the senators said in a "Dear Colleague" letter. "This announcement is noteworthy because LIFFE will be the first foreign exchange in the world to offer futures on U.S. securities."

If Congress fails to lift the ban on single stock futures this year as foreign exchanges move to develop "this market vacuum, U.S. exchanges will be put at a severe competitive disadvantage. As a result, these financial products, which are based on assets developed and produced in the United States, may never be traded on U.S. soil," they added.