CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, today announced that the Intelligent Medicine Exchange (“IMX”), the first futures and options exchange focused on the healthcare economy, has aligned with Morningstar Indexes to offer its first futures product. The IMX exchange was designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in January of this year.
Healthcare represents nearly 20% of U.S. GDP but until IMX there was no dedicated derivatives market specifically focused on managing healthcare risk.
The new futures product from IMX Health will be based on the Morningstar US Healthcare Index, which measures the performance of approximately 170 U.S. public healthcare companies representing biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, research services, home healthcare, hospitals, long-term care facilities and medical equipment and supplies. This market capitalization-weighted index is designed for optimal tradability and liquidity. Among the largest current holdings in the index are household names like UnitedHealth, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson.
Amelia Furr, global head of sales for Morningstar Indexes, said: “We are excited to offer a Morningstar index as the basis for futures on IMX exchange. This new relationship represents another step in the growth of our index-based derivatives products business in recent years and is a great example of our expansion to a much broader ecosystem of global investor audiences.”
Jim Plante, chief executive officer and co-founder of IMX, said: “The Morningstar U.S. Healthcare Index is the ideal underlying cash equities index on which to base our first futures contract. Morningstar Indexes understands the importance of market representation as well as liquidity and tradability when operating in index-based futures and recognizes the important balance between these two requirements when designing an index suited for our market. We are delighted to have them as our first collaborator, as we continue to develop our own proprietary indexes that will complement theirs.”
IMX trading operations are expected to commence in the second quarter of 2024.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data.
Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $264 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2023. The Company operates through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.
About Morningstar Indexes
As the fastest-growing global index provider for the last two years according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting, Morningstar Indexes was built to keep up with the evolving needs of investors—and to be a leading-edge advocate for them. Morningstar's rich heritage as a transparent, investor-focused leader in data and research uniquely equips Morningstar Indexes to support individuals, institutions, wealth managers and advisors in navigating investment opportunities across all major asset classes, styles, and strategies. From assessing risk and return with traditional benchmarks to helping investors effectively incorporate ESG objectives into their investment process, our range of index solutions spans an investment landscape as diverse as investors themselves. We help investors answer today's increasingly complex questions so that they can more easily reach tomorrow's goals. Please visit indexes.morningstar.com for more information.
About IMX Health
IMX Health, LLC, also known as Intelligent Medicine Exchange (IMX), is a subsidiary of holding company IMX, LLC. For more information, visit www.imxhealth.com.
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