Merc may coin new futures - on the ruble

Now that Moscow's awash in Pepsi and stuffed with Big Macs, theChicago Mercantile Exchange is planning to sell the Soviets onanother U.S. product: currency futures and options.

The Merc will design contracts based on the Soviet ruble andsubmit its plans for approval by the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission "in the near-term," said Leo Melamed, chairman of theexchange executive committee.

The new contracts will mirror those of the Merc's Japanese yen,German mark and other successful currency products, which meansthey'll be denominated in U.S. dollars.

But before the new contracts can trade, Soviet reformers firstmust solve the knotty problem of …