Also on July 31, CME's Eurodollar futures contract set a single-day volume record of 2,003,428 contracts - the first time that volume has exceeded 2 million in any single CME futures product. This contract is a benchmark for measuring the relative value of U.S. dollar-denominated short-term fixed-income securities. Eurodollars are bank deposits in U.S. dollars outside the United States.
In addition, CME achieved its seventh consecutive day of record open interest on July 31, with 28,003,133 open positions - the first time that any U.S. exchange has exceeded 28 million in open interest for futures and options on futures. The string of records began on July 23 with open interest of 27,033,431 positions. Open interest is a widely recognized indicator of the level of customer interest in an exchange's products. It represents the number of futures and options on futures contracts outstanding at the close of trading each day. CME has long had the largest futures and options on futures open interest of any exchange in the world.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2003 and managed $29.1 billion in collateral deposits at June 30, 2003. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
