DJ-AIG CI 2002 Performance Overshadows Equities - CBOT® Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index® Futures Contract 2002 Performance Overshadows Equity Index Results - Contract Reaches Open Interest Record

For the full 2002 year, the Chicago Board of Trade's Dow Jones-AIG COMMODITY Index (DJ-AIGCI) futures contract value increased 23.86% while the S&P 500, DowSM Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite declined 23.37%, 16.76%, and 31.53% respectively. "This performance illustrates the benefits of portfolio diversification and exposure to assets with a negative correlation to equities. The CBOT futures contract on the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index provides various types of investors with an alternative investment vehicle," according to Robert Ray, Vice President of Business Development, CBOT.

"DJ-AIGCI was designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to commodities as an asset class. With 20 commodities, the DJ-AIGCI covers all sectors of the commodity industry. The DJ-AIGCI measures trading volume in futures contracts of the index's component commodities and production. The result is an index that is not tilted towards one commodity but clearly distinguishes between major and minor commodities," said Mike Petronella, Managing Director of Dow Jones Indexes.

The CBOT today also announced that its members set a new daily open interest record in the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity IndexR futures contract traded on the exchange's electronic trading platform with 1,017 contracts outstanding on December 31.

The Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index futures contract was launched on November 16, 2001, and trades electronically from 8:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Central Time).