CBOT To Expand Project A Trading Hours For Agricultural Contracts

The Chicago Board of Trade announced today that trading hours for agricultural contracts on Project A, the CBOT's electronic trading platform, will change to 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. (Chicago Time), beginning Monday, February 21, 2000. The current hours are 9:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. (Chicago Time) The change was recommended by the CBOT's Agricultural Advisory Committee, a committee comprised of agribusiness industry representatives, and was approved by the CBOT's Board of Directors on January 18, 2000. Revising the hours on Project A represents the CBOT's continuing effort to ensure that it is meeting the needs and demands of its customers. With the new trading hours, the CBOT will be able to better serve domestic customers during the harvest season, while capturing more business overseas when foreign cash markets are open. Last year, agricultural futures and options contracts traded on Project A set a new volume record at 459,011contracts, a 30% increase from 1998.