Call it investor relations spin or the facts in black and white, but CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange are putting their best pitches forward on what has happened to equity index volumes since the Russell Index futures moved from CME to ICE in September.
CME fired the first shot during its earnings call on February 3 when it pointed out that CME’s Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures contract had surpassed the Russell 2000 index since that contract moved exclusively to ICE after the September 2008 expiry.
ICE, which signed an exclusive licensing deal with Russell last year, hit back during its fourth quarter earnings call on February 10, arguing that the Russell 2000 futures’ market share had held up well...