Firms to launch U.S. corporate bond index futures

(Reuters) - Cboe Global Markets Inc (NASDAQ: CBOE) said on Wednesday that it, data firm IHS Markit Ltd (NASDAQ: INFO) and BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK), the world's biggest asset manager, are jointly developing the first-ever U.S. corporate bond index futures.

These products, aimed at investors and traders, are intended to offer access to the $8.5 trillion U.S. corporate bond market through exchange-traded, centrally cleared instruments, the Chicago-based exchange operator said.

"We believe this will provide our customers with a tool to mitigate credit risk in the corporate bond market,” Cboe President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Concannon said in a statement.

Cboe said it expects to begin launching these products in the summer of 2018, starting with the high yield corporate bond index futures.

The corporate bond index futures will be designed to reflect the performance of new IHS Markit iBoxx indexes, which will include the publicly disclosed eligible holdings of the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE: HYG) and the publicly disclosed eligible holdings of the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE: LQD), Cboe said.

BlackRock, which oversees $6.3 trillion in assets, is the largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer through its iShares brand.

(Reporting By Richard Leong)

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