NYSE moving to boost competition with CME

The New York Stock Exchange plans to open a U.S.-based futures market next quarter as it ramps up competition with CME Group Inc.
The new exchange is expected to get regulatory approval in the third quarter, parent NYSE Euronext Inc. said in a statement Tuesday. NYSE Liffe LLC, as it will be called, will initially offer trading in futures on gold and silver, a franchise bought from CME earlier this year.

CME had acquired the metals business as part of its purchase of the Chicago Board of Trade last year, but was prevented from listing the products on its own trading system because of a prior partnership with the New York Mercantile Exchange, which also trades futures on the precious metals.

CME has agreed to buy Nymex, which would put gold and silver futures under CME’s umbrella and increase the rivalry between the two exchanges. NYSE Euronext has also said it will list other futures products once it forms a U.S. exchange, which will be regulated by the Chicago-based National Futures Assn. A spokesman for NYSE Euronext declined to provide further details.

CME this week moved its stock listing to the Nasdaq Stock Market from NYSE. A CME spokesman said the move had “nothing to do” with the anticipation of increased competition with NYSE. CME will clear, or guarantee, trades in NYSE Liffe’s precious-metals futures through the end of first-quarter 2009.