By Jacob Bunge
CME Group Inc. plans to review trading hours for its benchmark
livestock futures contracts, a spokesman said Wednesday.
CME has contacted some customers of its futures markets to
discuss potential changes to the current trading session, after
some have cited high volatility in the market and, at-times,
sporadic trading activity.
"Livestock customers and industry participants have asked us to
review existing livestock trading hours to ensure we are providing
the most effective risk-management and price-discovery tools
possible and that they continue to reflect the changing needs of
our customers and the market," said Chris Grams, spokesman for CME,
in an email. "We are beginning that process based on customer
feedback."
CME, the world's largest futures exchange operator in terms of
trading activity, maintains the main U.S. market for trading
contracts reflecting anticipated prices for cattle and hogs.
The main trading session for those contracts, which includes
trading in CME's Chicago-based pits, runs from 10:05 a.m. ET to 2
p.m. ET. Contracts can be traded electronically nearly around the
clock, from the time markets open on Monday mornings to 4:55 p.m.
ET Friday afternoons, with one-hour breaks each day in the late
afternoon.
The rise of electronic trading has prompted CME and other
exchanges to rethink trading sessions that used to revolve around
various industries' business days. CME, which also runs the main
U.S. market for trading grain and soybean contracts, last year
trimmed the session for those contracts after customers objected to
CME's move in 2012 to extend the trading day.
Activity in CME's livestock futures markets increased 7.6% in
June, with about 2.2 million cattle and hog futures contracts
traded, according to exchange data. Overall activity in the markets
over the first six months of this year is running slightly behind
the same period in 2013.
Any change to CME's existing livestock sessions would require
approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com
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