FOOTSIE

acronym Also written footsie or FT-SE (Business World) In the colloquial language of the Stock Exchange, the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 share index, an index based on the share values of Britain's one hundred largest public companies. Also known more fully as the Footsie index. Etymology: A respelling of FT-SE (itself the initial letters of Financial Times-Stock Exchange), intended to represent the sounds produced when you try to pronounce the initials as a word. History and Usage: The FT-SE index was set up in January 1984 and almost immediately came to be known affectionately as Footsie, perhaps because FT-SE is such a mouthful. Within a few months, traded options and futures which were linked to the index became available and these were described as Footsie options etc. (even without a capital initial) almost as though Footsie were an adjective. Footsie is used with or without the to refer to the index; the 100 part of the index's name sometimes follows Footsie, especially when the official form, FT-SE 100 index, is used. The FT-SE 100 (Footsie) Index has already fallen from a peak 1717 early in April to 1565, but if you think calamity lies ahead, it is not too late to buy Footsie Put Options. Daily Mail 17 May 1986, p. 30 With Congress and Administration still deadlocked over the US Budget, the most anodyne political remark is quite capable of shifting Footsie 50 points. Investors Chronicle 20 Nov. 1987, p. 29