News just out this morning. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1vleKviD7D8 Chicago Merc to Purchase Board of Trade for About $8 Billion By Annie Pinkert Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange agreed to buy the Chicago Board of Trade for about $8 billion, creating the world's biggest derivatives exchange. CBOT stockholders will have the right to receive 0.3006 shares of CME Class A common stock per share of CBOT Class A common stock or to elect an amount in cash per share equal to the value of the exchange ratio based on a ten day average of closing prices of CME common stock, the companies said in a statement sent on PRNewswire. -- Editor: Liedtka Last Updated: October 17, 2006 08:18 EDT ____________ Bloomberg reporting that the new company name will be "CME Group"... the storied CBOT name will be history.
Wow, finally CME bought somebody, and it is a big one. Now bets will be one when eCBOT the system will be history, merged into Globex. I am thinking Q1, 2007.
Dow futures volume will probably quadruple if the CME adds it to globex. CBOT is such a relatively low volume exchange. Currently Dow futures volume is approx 1/12th to 1/15th the volume of the ES.
All this means is higher fees as far as I'm concerned. Quote from PR Newswire "The merger will not impact core trading rights or membership or clearing privileges at either exchange."