CME To Change Trading Hours

CME To Change Trading Hours
I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

The CME Group announced last week another revision to its electronic grain trading hours that moves it back nearer to their old trading hours. Overnight trade will run from 7 p.m. Central to 7:45 a.m. Day trade will resume at 8:30 a.m. and run until 1:15 p.m. Central time.

Jim Bower of Bower Trading says the CME heard from more than four-thousand customers before making the decision.?
Bower: “We basically go from 21 hours down to 17 and 1/2 --for all practical purposes. I guess it is more in line with what the public wants. they are our customer so you need to give them what they want.”
Bower says there has been no word yet about whether or not USDA will change the release of their reports from the 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.?
Bower: “I think that is still under pending review. I think for right now the way I understand it, they are going to keep the crop reports the same to see how that works. The problem with that is in a really high volatile market as we’ve seen in the past. Some crop reports, as you know, are ho hum, but what if you get a blockbuster in there, 2 hours and 15 minutes aren’t going to be too much time.”
USDA had said in the past they wouldn’t change if the market hours were revised. Pending U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval - the new hours will begin on April 8th.