Meanings of dated contracts in English

Producer hedging has pressured longer- dated contracts, contributing to the narrower spread.

To maintain an exposure, they must replace contracts going into delivery with farther- dated contracts.

But later- dated contracts also fell as U.S. storage rapidly fills.

Instead, we are seeing a lot of March- dated contracts.

The rebound in near-term prices has also driven hedging activity that has suppressed the prices of later- dated contracts.

That is an unusually abrupt move for longer- dated contracts that are typically much less volatile than prompt crude.

Much of Thursday's call open interest growth is in far- dated contracts that expire in January 2015, Trade Alert said.

Long- dated contracts for interest-rate futures are also expected to sell off, driving yields paid on those instruments sharply higher.

The cost of buying protection on BP's debt has surged, with the largest jump on Wednesday coming in shorter- dated contracts.

However, over the coming days and months, the ETF said it would move a significant portion of its portfolio into later- dated contracts.

Still, the market has moved into backwardation with nearby prices more expensive than later- dated contracts -an indication of some physical tightness.

More notable is the action in VIX futures markets, which shows a sharper increase in expected volatility in January than in later- dated contracts.

But strategies that take a long position in longer- dated contracts, while shorting near-term expiries, could prove costly in the event of a volatility spike.

Yields paid on long- dated contracts for interest-rate futures surged, with the Jan. 2023 maturity 2DIJF23 shooting 44 basis points higher.

The term structure for VIX futures has maintained an inverted shape, with shorter- dated contracts at higher levels than longer-dated ones, for more than two weeks.

But over the same time period, long dated contracts have risen by just one third, running into resistance at the psychological $100 a barrel level.