News Article The prospect of an intensifying three-way battle over the biggest U.S. futures market drew closer Tuesday as regulators approved a new clearinghouse venture that will allow NYSE Euronext (NYX) to challenge the dominance of CME Group Inc. in contracts linked to Treasurys. NYSE Euronext said it could be ready to launch Treasurys futures by April in what could be the most significant challenge to CME's near-monopoly on the product since the abortive push into the market by Germany's Eurex earlier in the decade. Date February 1, 2011 Cross References CEA Sec. 5b

Comment Letter ISDA and SIFMA's comment letter urges the CFTC to take into account that bilateral OTC derivative markets are limited to entities that qualify as eligible contract participants; permit bilateral contract negotiation in place of formalistic rules; and strike a balance between the burden presented and the need to protect the interests of counterparties who are, by definition, deemed to be able to protect their own interests. Document Number RIN 3038-AD28 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Protection of Collateral of Counterparties to Uncleared Swaps Date February 1, 2011 Cross

News Article BP Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil company, may face charges of manipulating prices in the U.S. natural-gas market in 2008, the company said in a filing today, noting that FERC and the CFTC are currently investigating several BP entities regarding trading in the next- day natural gas market at Houston Ship Channel during October and November 2008," the company said in the filing to the SEC. The CFTC informed BP it intended to recommend charges on Nov. 30, while FERC has yet to decide what action it will take, BP said in the statement. Publication Bloomberg Date February 1, 2011

News Articles New York Portfolio Clearing, a start-up clearinghouse co-owned by NYSE Euronext, won regulatory approval to clear derivatives, paving the way for competition with futures exchange giant CME Group Inc. NYPC, jointly owned by the Big Board's parent and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp, will clear interest rate futures offered by NYSE Euronext's U.S. futures exchange, NYSE Liffe. But the CFTC withheld approval of a key part of NYPC's business plan, the ability to offset margins deposited at the clearinghouse to back futures against margins put up to guarantee holdings in

Commentary Prof. Craig Pirrong criticizes the French President Sarkozy and European Commissioner Michael Barnier for demonizing speculation and placing blame for recent commodity price spikes on speculators. Characterizing the the Sarkozy-Barnier approach as "intellectually bankrupt," Pirrong points out that the European Commission has censored its own research into food prices under pressure from President Sarkozy. notwithstanding the lack of evidence that speculation is responsible for the current high food prices. A new E.U. study came to exactly the same conclusion, finding no evidence of