New Software Release - MIMIC Software 
Download MIMIC 2.1.0 Software (Date: 12/06/02)

New Features - Available December 2002 - Logical Information Machines is pleased to announce a new release of the MIMIC software. New features include:

1. Charting Forward Curves
2. Copying/Pasting/Moving Rows
3. New Icons for Showing a Series, Formula or Curve

Charting Forward Curves

The new Forward Curve functionality in MIMIC brings an exciting new charting capability to the LIM family of software.

Forward Curves are sets of data which represent today's market estimate of the price of a commodity at various points out into the future.

In MIMIC, the forward curve is plotted as if the data were any other MIM database series. You may only plot series that are of the MIM type: "futures". The application takes the future that the user selects and generates curve data as follows.

• For every contract delivery month that is quoting for the future commodity, one value - the settlement (close) price is extracted from the database.
• MIMIC reads the futures symbol for all the contracts associated with the commodity and determines what the contract delivery month is e.g. NG2002_F would be January 2002 NYMEX Natural Gas Henry Hub.
• The settlement price for the chosen day on each contract, going out into the future is then stored against the calendar days during the month of contract delivery. NG2002_F delivered in January 2002 so its value would be stored against the period January 1, 2002 until January 31st 2002. When charted, these prices fill in all the days of the month and look like steps joined by straight lines.
• If the delivery month for a contract is still in the future, then the dates simply push forward into the future and the curve extends forward from the last "actual" data point. Normally, last data points are today or yesterday. Forward curves can push the date range out several years into the future.

You can view multiple curves in MIMIC for a particular commodity as well as viewing the underlying future series in the same chart. This allows an analyst or trader to see how the forward market view of a commodity evolves over time and to compare the history of the curve with what actually happened in the spot market.

The MIMIC forward curves are anchored to a start date that the user specifies. The default start date is the last quoted value for the futures series so that you see the latest curve. Adding new rows to the sheet allows you to specify curves at different points in history.

Copying/Pasting/Moving Rows

You can now copy and paste a MIMIC row onto a new line or move the order of the row entries in the MIMIC window.

• Moving Rows - Double click to select a cell in a row. A yellow line will appear around the selected cell. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the row to a new location.
• Copying and Pasting Rows - Use the same method as moving a row. Double click a cell to get a yellow line around the selected cell.  Copy the row by selecting the Ctrl+C keys then paste by selecting the Ctrl+V keys. The new row will paste underneath the row that is highlighted.

New Icons to Designate a Series, Formula or Curve

The following three new icons depict a series, formula or forward curve.

For more information on the features available in the MIMIC 2.1.0 version, please see the document "MIMIC Product News". For step by step instructions, see the course guide "MIMIC 101-E (For the Energy Markets)". Chapter Two covers copying/pasting/moving rows as well as the new icons for designating a series, formula, or curve. Chapter Nine covers the new forward curve functionality.