The FTSE RAFI indices of fundamental strategy were conceived by Research Affiliates, an investment consultancy firm created in 2002 by Robert Arnott. As opposed to traditional market cap indices, they weight each stock according to 4 fundamental criteria: sales, cash-flows, dividends and book value.

Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. and Euronext held a conference to explain about ETFs at "La Bourse" in the center of Paris. The conference focused on investing in Japan and the Asian region in light of the heightened interest in investing in Japanese equity. Although the conference started early in the morning, approximately 50 professionals such as investment bankers and fund managers attended. This was the first opportunity to hold such a conference with Euronext.

Today's listing of OL Groupe on the Eurolist compartment of Euronext Paris, the first of a sporting entertainment company, was a major success. OL Groupe placed 3.68 million shares to raise a total of EUR 88.4 million. The global placement reserved to institutions was oversubscribed 6.5 times and the open-price offering for individual investors more than 4 times.

Alternext, the Euronext market dedicated to small and mid-cap stocks, today welcomed its first Spanish business with the listing of Antevenio, the fourth foreign company1 to join the market. Antevenio placed 1.2 million shares on the market to raise a total of EUR 8.17 million. The global placement reserved to institutions was oversubscribed 9 times and the open-price offering for individual investors 25 times.

Euronext.liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext, will offer a six month fee holiday on Raw Sugar futures and options which will be launched on Tuesday 20 February. LCH.Clearnet will also offer a similar six month holiday on its clearing fees for both contracts.

Euronext N.V. (Euronext) and NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) today received formal approval from Gerrit Zalm, the Minister of Finance of the Netherlands, for their proposed business combination. This formal approval takes the form of declarations of no-objection and an exchange license and follows the declaration from the Minister in December that he was "minded to grant the requested declarations" subject to certain conditions that the parties have been able to satisfy.

ETF Securities Ltd, the world pioneer of Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs), is planning shortly to list a record 31 separate ETCs, comprising of 21 individual securities and 10 index securities, on Euronext Paris. This simultaneous listing on Euronext Paris will enable investors to trade such an expansive range of commodities through ordinary brokerage accounts just like any equity.

Cash products

Euronext cash markets registered their busiest month ever in January 2007 with 23.1 million transactions completed, up 24.1% on the same month last year, surpassing the previous record level of 22.1 million transactions registered in May 2006. This represents a record daily average of more than 1 million transactions, up 21.8% on the 2006 daily average of 861,000.

Euronext will be extending its service offering in the run-up to implementation of the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), set to take effect in November 2007. This new range of services will initially be built around three major projects that Euronext plans to make available from November 1, 2007:

Finance minister Zalm has granted the requested declarations of no-objection and exchange licence to allow NYSE and Euronext to merge. NYSE and Euronext have indicated to step up the finalisation of the merger process.

Euronext.liffe has opened a new Frankfurt office to support the company's growing German business. Euronext.liffe's Chief Executive Hugh Freedberg said: "Our business from Germany has been growing strongly, particularly since we launched a wide range of German equity options on our Bclear wholesale trading service, which now account for over 30% of volume. We want to expand and offer better levels of service to our growing customer base in Germany.

Euronext and NYSE group released a joint statement on Letter from Dutch Minister of Finance of the Netherlands, Gerrit Zalm, backing the the proposed merger of the two stock exchanges.