Ask Fear & Greed: What are futures and what do they measure?

Listener Linus asks: Each weekday the markets refer to the ASX open via the ASX/SPI futures [futures contracts]. But what are the actual futures contracts - what constitutes "futures contracts" and what do they measure? Or perhaps more correctly, how do the futures manifest themselves as a points measurement? I'm presuming there is an index that allows a "points" measure to be compared on a moving basis day to day.

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