CME Equity Index Products Set New All-Time Monthly Volume Record As Overall Volume Rises 15 Percent In First Half of 2000 - GLOBEX®2 Volume Increases 115 Percent Year-To-Date

Volume of trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the first half of 2000 rose 15 percent above 1999 levels to more than 120 million contracts. June volume of 20.5 million contracts set a new record for any June in CME history, while equity index products set a new all-time volume record of 5.6 million.

Electronically traded volume on the CME’s GLOBEX2 system rose 114.7 percent in the first half of the year, totaling 14,805,536 contracts. June's volume of 2,612,445 represents an increase of more than 104 percent over June 1999.

In the first half of 2000 equity index trading volume rose 36.5 percent to 31.3 million contracts. Interest rate volume during the same period rose 14.7 percent and totaled 74.3 million contracts.

The record 5.6 million equity index futures and options in June includes a new all-time record of 5.2 million equity index futures. The E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index futures contract set a new all-time monthly record of 755,276 in June, the first anniversary of its launch. E-mini S&P 500 futures volume outpaced any previous June on volume of 1,546,116. Other index products setting June records were Nasdaq 100 futures (417,099) and options (69,773), GSCI futures (86,307), Russell 2000 futures (57,739) and options (603), and S&P/BARRA Growth Index futures (2,961).

Currency products also marked new records for any June, including Euro FX futures at 380,636, Euro FX options at 25,645 and Canadian dollar futures at 310,194. E-mini Euro FX futures set an all-time monthly record at 2,713.

Open interest, or the number of contracts outstanding at the end of trading, stood at 7.1 million contracts at month’s end.