futures expirations

Sugar Games: A Peek Inside the Elite, High-Stakes Gamble of Sugar Futures

Every few weeks, a handful of the world's biggest merchants play a high-stakes game, and a well-connected newcomer from Asia, Wilmar International, just sat down at the table. The stakes are in sugar often worth hundreds of millions of dollars; the occasion is the expiry of futures contracts.

Why Futures and Options Expirations Won't Boost Wall Street

Index futures, index options, equity options and security futures are all set to expire Friday in a phenomenon known as the "quadruple witching" hour. It usually signals a time of higher trading volumes and surprises on Wall Street, but this time, investor uncertainty is likely to keep trades low.