Add another no-action letter from the CFTC. These are pretty good indexes for those of you seeking exposure across the pond. http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/01/28/rtr1232659.html
I think Euro Stoxx is 50 companies. The 80/100 are the largest and most liquid. They all seem to track each other rather closely. Odd thing is... the FTSEEurofirst.com page keeps shutting down IE when running on my computer. I cannot actually load the page and view the website. I've never seen anything like it. It's like one of the Java charts starts running on the page when it's near done loading and then everything just shuts down, no error messages or anything. I checked out the stats on another computer some time ago and the index looked very attractive. There were options on the futures index and a good suite of products. I just wish I could get the page to load.
Nothing official of course but from what I've heard... Eurex is ready to go the week after gaining approval. They certainly hope that will be "any time now". There is some pressure on the CFTC to move quickly as some firms have allegedly expressed an interest in using Eurex for the June rollover. March rollover starts in Feb, and Eurex missing the bulk of the June contracts would be less than ideal. I believe I read somewhere that IB will embrace Eurex electronic products. Given both the IB and Eurex commitment to electronic trading for the masses, it seems like a great match.