Tomorrow, CME will close open outcry trading of its interest rate products at 1 p.m. CST, rather than the usual 2 p.m. closing. The special early closing time is in response to customer input following the unusual circumstances this week. Open outcry trading of CME foreign exchange products will close at its usual 2 p.m. time. GLOBEXÒ 2 electronic trading of interest rate and foreign exchange products will continue until 4 p.m. tomorrow and will open on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. CST, following their normal schedule.
Trading went smoothly today, exchange officials reported. While final volume figures will not be available until tomorrow, estimated CME trading volume today was nearly 2.5 million contracts. For Sept. 1 through Sept. 10, average daily volume was nearly 2.7 million contracts at CME. Average daily volume year-to-date through August was about 1.5 million contracts.
Trading in all CME markets was suspended at 9:15 a.m. CST on Tuesday. Other than CME's U.S. equity index products, floor trading in CME products resumed at their normal times on Thursday, Sept. 13. Electronic trading on CME's GLOBEX2 system re-opened at the same time on Thursday as the open outcry trading.
Trading of the Nikkei 225 futures and options contracts also re-opened Sept. 13 to accommodate the last trading day of the expiring September contract. CME officials said that after today's close, the Nikkei 225 contracts will resume trading when CME's U.S. equity index contracts re-open.
CME Clearing House has conducted normal business operations this week. All pay and collect activities have been confirmed in a timely manner by the settlement banks. Of CME's more than $30 billion in performance bond deposits, more than 12 percent is excess collateral.
