Must be a Chicago thing, given similar problems at ARCA Odd, too, that there appears to be nothing anywhere about the problem. Not the CME web site nor the newswires. You'd think they could pick up the phone and call the DJ desk with status info, as theoretically important as the futures are to the world. Even more puzzling is that T&S data on the CME site shows lots of trades occuring during the supposed downtime. Doesn't make any sense. Two of my other chart sources confirm no trades, though.
My broker tells me the CME is still having sporadic problems this morning (Tuesday morning), although everything looks okay at the moment. Just be prepared in case they go down again.
The CME is in transition - it has been for about two years since they started down this IPO road. They have replaced some of the IT/Operations people and promoted others. I am surprised that GLOBEX still has these types of system failures: if this is indeed on the CME side. However, given GLOBEX's development path and the supporting infrastructure development path it is not surprising. The CME is a tough place to work and get anything done due to the unique dynamic of the membership committees and their relationship to the CME staff organizations. They have a lot of challenges going forward but my guess is that things will transition smoothly through the new organizational change although it will probably be more difficult to do business with the CME for a while until they iron out the new business processes .....
apex - Not quite that bad (W95 machine with a 17 year old operator) on the technology front, but some serious problems with operational systems and they're way behind on numerous other technology projects. The executive they have in charge of electronic markets is the poster child for the Peter Principle (hired by the previous CIO who surrounded himself with people who wouldn't challenge him) - no in depth technology expertise or skills, no strategic or tactical planning experience, no full lifecycle technology experience, no quality management experience, no large scale management experience at all, and has had to jump ship before all hell broke loose or had to be nursemaided along through previous jobs. Add to that an environment where major architectural decisions are delegated to technicians with no experience in large scale technology architecture, commercial systems engineering, or strategic technology planning and who are more interested in pursuing technology adventures than building bulletproof commercial systems and where it's more important to not hurt someone's feelings than to get things done right or take decisive action to correct mistakes before they become problems and you've got a troubling situation for one of the major exchanges in the world. Remember, these are the same technoweenies who decided to pour millions of dollars into floor trading systems based on OS2. Personally, I think that they're just going to try to keep the ship from exploding and sinking long enough to IPO and then most of the big shots won't care anymore and may just leave with their big piles of cash and leave the mess for someone else. So much for the regulators doing their jobs.