The American Stock Exchange will launch trading in options on the New York Stock Exchange listed stock of Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) on Wednesday, November 1, 2000.

Monsanto options will open with strike prices of 20, 22 1/2 and 25 and position limits of 75,000 contracts. The options will trade on the January expiration cycle with initial expirations in November, December, January and April. Hunt Specialists LLC/Bear Specialist, Inc. will serve as specialist.

Monsanto, a newly formed subsidiary of Pharmacia Corporation, is a leading worldwide agricultural products company providing crop-protection chemicals and seeds. The company's crop-protection segment is led by its herbicide Roundup.

The American Stock Exchange®, a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), is the only primary exchange that offers trading across a full range of equities, Index Shares(SM), including structured products and HOLDRS(SM), and options. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the leader in Index Share listings (DIAMONDS®, FORTUNE 500® Index Tracking Stock, FORTUNE e-50(TM) Index Tracking Stock, iShares(SM), MidCap SPDRs(TM), Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock(SM), Select Sector SPDRs®, and SPDRs® and streetTRACKS(SM) and is the second-largest options exchange in the U.S., trading options on broad- based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. 

American Stock Exchange news release
N3085