International derivatives marketplace CME Group today announced the first day of trading in High Yield Duration-Hedged Credit futures, its fourth contract based on Bloomberg corporate bond indexes.

The new product enables investors to manage credit exposure with greater precision as demand for fixed income hedging tools continues to grow.

“In an environment driven by uncertainty, our high yield and investment grade credit futures provide highly efficient risk management solutions for corporate bonds, interest rates, equities and other assets,” said Agha Mirza, CME Group Global Head of Rates and OTC Products. “Today’s launch of High Yield Duration-Hedged Credit futures is well-timed given our latest milestone of 275,000 credit futures contracts traded since last June.”

CME Group credit futures are the first futures contracts to help market participants manage duration risk through an intercommodity spread with U.S. Treasury futures. Clients can receive automatic margin offsets against CME Group’s Interest Rate and Equity Index futures, as part of its $60 billion in unparalleled capital efficiencies delivered daily across asset classes.

In March, open interest in CME Group credit futures reached a record 3,200 contracts, representing $320 million in notional value.

Available to trade on CME Globex and eligible for submission to clearing via CME ClearPort, CME Group credit futures are listed with, and subject to, the rules of CBOT.