NASDAQ OMX and World Steel Exchange Marketing Announce Strategic Partnership

Transparent and Regular Pricing to Allow Customers to Manage Risk

NEW YORK, May 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), and World Steel Exchange Marketing, LLC (WSEM), founded by World Steel Dynamics (WSD) in 2009, today announced a strategic partnership to develop financially settled steel and steel scrap futures products to be traded on the NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange, Inc. (NFX). This strategic partnership will help the steel industry better manage steel price risk, with a world-class trading platform and a complement of steel futures products. The products are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2013 following filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

These new futures contracts will be financially-settled monthly against WSEM's SteelBenchmarker™ Pricing System and listed on NFX, a public futures exchange which gives institutional investors an efficient and secure way to trade steel. Transparent and regular pricing will allow market participants to manage their risk on short-, medium- and long-term contracts. Investors interested in exchange-traded steel futures will benefit from a forward price curve to judge hedging opportunities, which also allows for timing flexibility on forward price commitments. NFX will offer improved contact performance with no defaults on exchange cleared trading.

"We are pleased to create a steel futures marketplace with NASDAQ OMX that, when properly harnessed, will help steel mills enhance profit margins and steel buyers achieve competitive advantages," said Peter Marcus, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of World Steel Exchange Marketing.

"We bring unparalleled industry relationships; deep regional and global marketplace knowledge; hands on applications expertise; best practice benchmarking, awareness of what causes sleepless nights for steel buyers and sellers, robust price indices and a deep love for the industry and all of those with whom we interact," Marcus added.

After the launch of the initial U.S. steel futures products, NFX will continue to expand its offering with additional products, such as European and world export market steel futures.

"As we expand our footprint in the derivatives space, our U.S. futures platform will allow NASDAQ OMX to offer member firms new trading opportunities in various products, including metals," said Eric Noll, Executive Vice President of Transaction Services U.S. and U.K. at NASDAQ OMX.

"We're thrilled to partner with WSEM as we look to develop a robust product suite of steel futures which leverages our INET trading platform and the NASDAQ OMX Data Center for efficient execution across asset classes," said Daniel Carrigan, President of NFX.

For more information about NFX, please visit our website at:

www.nasdaqtrader.com/NFX

World Steel Exchange Marketing (WSEM):

WSEM will be periodically assisted by World Steel Dynamics (WSD) and its 12 person staff, and is responsible for marketing all steel related futures products. In addition, WSEM educates the steel industry on the benefits of using futures to hedge the steel price risk to steel buyers and sellers, to professional investors, and to those with large steel equity holdings. WSEM is led by WSD's managing director, Peter Marcus, a renowned analyst of the steel industry for 51 years and the founder of World Steel Dynamics. Marcus believes the advent of steel futures trading brings with it a revolution in the way the industry buys and sells steel. The biggest winners will be those who adopt these new financial tools the earliest and the customers they serve.

Pat McCormick, WSEM president, came to WSD six years ago after a 30-year career at Emerson. Pat founded WSD's "Steel Stratagems" consulting service which works with select clients to help them better manage raw material and finished product price risk. John Conheeney, EVP, has over 25 years of experience in the futures markets, and will help customers gain market access, understand the contracts, and work with them to appreciate the benefits of managing the price risk with futures.

About the SteelBenchmarker™ Pricing System Indices:

WSEM's SteelBenchmarker™ Pricing System generates steel scrap benchmark prices for the USA and finished steel products benchmark prices for the USA, Europe and China. Learn more at: www.steelbenchmarker.com

About World Steel Dynamics:

WSD is a strategic information service that, since 1975, has provided new and critical perspectives on possible steel industry pricing and other developments. WSD regularly analyzes and publishes reports on steel prices, steelmakers' costs, steel supply/demand and steel finances. In performing steel forecasts, WSD seeks to understand how the "pricing power" of steel companies the world over will be impacted by changes in the steel industry's structure. To learn more go to: www.worldsteeldynamics.com

About NASDAQ OMX:

The inventor of the electronic exchange, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., fuels economies and provides transformative technologies for the entire lifecycle of a trade - from risk management to trade to surveillance to clearing. In the U.S. and Europe, we own and operate 24 markets, 3 clearinghouses and 5 central securities depositories supporting equities, options, fixed income, derivatives, commodities, futures and structured products. Able to process more than 1 million messages per second at sub-40 microsecond speeds with 99.999% uptime, our technology drives more than 70 marketplaces in 50 developed and emerging countries into the future, powering 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Our award-winning data products and worldwide indexes are the benchmarks in the financial industry.
Home to over 3,300 listed companies worth $6 trillion in market cap whose innovations shape our world, we give the ideas of tomorrow access to capital today. Welcome to where the world takes a big leap forward, daily. Welcome to the NASDAQ OMX Century. To learn more, visit nasdaqomx.com. Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/NASDAQ) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx). (Symbol: NDAQ and member of S&P 500)

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about futures products to be traded on NFX and NASDAQ OMX's other products and offerings. We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.

NDAQG

CONTACT: NASDAQ OMX Media Contact:

Robert Madden

+1.646.441.5045

[email protected]



World Steel Exchange Marketing Contact:

John Conheeney

+ 1.201.503.0922

[email protected]

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