2005 Volume in Innovative Product Complex Surpasses 2004; New Single Day Volume Record Established on April 11
CHICAGO, April 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CME, the largest U.S. futures
exchange, announced that yesterday year-to-date trading of futures and options
on futures in its weather derivative contracts already has surpassed the total
volume of contracts traded in 2004. CME(R) Weather traded this year have
reached a total of 124,177 contracts as of the close of trading yesterday,
April 12, compared with 122,987 in 2004.
The exchange also established a single-day trading record on Monday, April
11, 2005, with 4,850 contracts traded, exceeding the previous record of 4,500
set on April 5, 2005. Average daily volume of CME Weather contracts traded
this year is 1,800 compared with an average daily volume of 344 in 2004.
“Even in our advanced, technology-based society, we are still very much
influenced by the weather. It affects our daily lives and choices, and also
can have an impact on corporate revenues and earnings,” said Rick Redding,
managing director, products for CME. “Just as professionals regularly use
futures and options to hedge their risk in interest rates, equities, foreign
exchange and commodities, now there are tools available for the management of
risk from extreme movements of temperature.”
“The combination of weather and related commodity markets is fueling a
great surge in activity where the CME platform is excellent for new entrants
such as hedge funds and other companies to jump start their business with an
exchange-cleared product,” said Brian O’Hearne, president of
GuaranteedWeather, a global weather risk management company, and president of
the Weather Risk Management Association. “This in turn creates more diversity
and depth for established players and improved pricing for companies hedging
their weather risk.”
“Weather impacts every facet of the global economy down to the very steps
that make up the corporate supply chain. New fund managers, new procurement
managers, and retailers are realizing that the costs of volatile weather can
be managed with CME weather futures,” said Agbeli K. Ameko, managing partner,
Enercast.com, a provider of real-time information to the energy markets. “The
global economy is exposed to over a trillion dollars of unmanaged weather
risks and these new volume figures show that the growth in this market is
going to continue its explosive gains.”
In 1999, CME created a weather derivative market to enable businesses to
transfer risk that could be adversely affected by unanticipated temperature
swings. CME Heating Degree Day (HDD) and Cooling Degree Day (CDD) futures and
options on futures are the first exchange-traded, temperature-related weather
derivatives. These contracts are designed to help businesses protect their
revenues during times of depressed demand or excessive costs because of
unexpected or unfavorable weather conditions. CME today offers a total of 22
cities which are listed on the exchange for trading (15 in the United States,
five in Europe and two in Japan). Further information about CME Weather is
available at www.cme.com/weather .
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( http://www.cme.com ) is the largest
futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME
brings together buyers and sellers on CME Globex(R) electronic trading
platform and on its trading floor. CME offers futures and options on futures
primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign
exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.42 billion per day in
settlement payments and managed $44.3 billion in collateral deposits as of
March 31, 2005, including $3.99 billion in deposits for non-CME products. CME
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.
(NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000(R) Index.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-
looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance
and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to
predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from
what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed
information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent
annual report on Form 10-K, which can be obtained at its Web site at www.sec.gov.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and CME Globex are
registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information
about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at
www.cme.com .
Comments are closed.