FCT And Chicago Mercantile Exchange Establish Direct Customer Connectivity From Gibraltar - Customer Will Gain Direct, Cost-Effective Access To GLOBEX®

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) today announced that FCT, an independent proprietary trading and clearing firm, is the first company to initiate direct access and trading from its office in Gibraltar to CME's electronic trading platform, GLOBEX®, through the exchange's newly opened telecommunications hub in the region.

"Linking directly to CME's electronic trading platform provides us with important connectivity and cost savings," said Roger E. Carlsson, founder and Chairman of FCT. "Using GLOBEX from Gibraltar provides us with the ability to trade at any time and this connection is a significant addition to our business."

"Gibraltar continues to grow as an influential trading location in the world and we are delighted that firms like FCT can now access GLOBEX directly from this location," said Arman Falsafi, CME Managing Director, Global Electronic Trading & Data. "Enabling fast and efficient connectivity to GLOBEX through this and other such facilities is in line with our growth strategy in Europe and our ongoing commitment to serving our European customers."

On April 1, 2004, CME officially launched four new European telecommunications hubs in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt and Gibraltar, consistent with the company's November 2003 commitment to open these facilities. Customers using the hubs will connect to CME's GLOBEX platform via a 2 megabit (E1) circuit ordered through the carrier of their choice. European customers using the new hubs can reduce their GLOBEX connectivity charges by as much as 75 percent of current costs. CME installed its first hub in London in January 2002. Two additional telecommunications hubs will open in Milan and Paris later this spring.

In June 1992, CME launched GLOBEX, the first global electronic trading platform for the trading of futures and options on futures products. Initially implemented for after-hours trading of CME products, today GLOBEX is available virtually around the clock, five days a week, offering customers around the world the capability to trade all of CME's flagship products, including Eurodollars, S&P 500®, NASDAQ-100®, foreign exchange and the E-mini™ suite of index futures - the fastest growing products in CME history.

In March 2004, average daily trading volume on CME's GLOBEX platform exceeded 1.5 million contracts, representing 51 percent of total volume, the first time electronic trading volume exceeded 50 percent in one month.

Market users in Europe interested in direct connectivity to GLOBEX should contact CME's London office at 44-207-623-2550.