In the year before the 1987 stock market crash, Chase Manhattan Bank offered the first equity-linked certificates of deposit. For example, for a fixed period of time, say one year, an equity-linked certificate of deposit guarantees a return of at least 4% (below-market interest rate), but with the potential to earn 90% of the rate of return on the S&P 500 Index over the year, should this be larger. In 1996, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) listed S&P 500 Equity Linked Notes and Technology Market Index Target-Term Securites (MITTSâ). The former pays at maturity a fixed cash amount plus a non-negative amount based on the percentage increase, if any, in the S&P 500 Index over a starting index value. The latter pays at maturity a fixed cash amount plus an additional amount which increases up to a maximum, depending on the percentage increase in the CBOT Technology Index over a starting value.

* The CODI Index is calculated by the H.15 Federal Reserve Statistical Release data and is usually published on on the first Monday of the following month. CODi is calculated by the average and by adding the 12 most recently published monthly yields together, dividing the result by 12 and rounding this result to the nearest 10,000th of one percentage point. Information on monthly yields on 3-month certificates of deposit (secondary market) is published by the Federal Reserve Board.

For more information on CODI and many other popular Indexes you may logon to  http://www.federalreserve.gov/ and search any specific index you choose. Here is a link to the Federal Reserve Statistical release and is a more accurate description of where the indexes are daily http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/