Friday, October 15, 2010

CME to Launch Rainfall Futures, Options Contracts

The CME says it will launch a new set of rainfall futures and options contracts for traders looking to hedge risk in the agricultural commodities markets.


The new contracts, which will be based on the amount of rainfall in cities such as Chicago, Des Moines, Iowa, New York and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, will start trading on Nov. 1, CME Group said in a statement.

"A significant number of industries, from agribusiness to recreation, are reliant on good weather, but also are at the mercy of bad weather," Tim Andriesen, CME Group's Managing Director of Agricultural Commodities and Alternative Investments, said in a statement "Rainfall contracts, in conjunction with our existing suite of weather products, will allow these businesses to manage the resulting risk."

The contracts will be based on the rainfall in nine U.S. cities.

CME currently offers contracts based on weather conditions related to temperature, snowfall, frost and hurricanes as well as rainfall in other cities around the world.

2 comments:

  1. Betting on the weather, only in the great Wall Street casino. What new risk does this allow to be managed that can't be covered by crop insurance, commodity futures, etc?

    Did Jackie Clegg Dodd approve this new product as CME Board member?

    http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/directors.cfm?bioID=16089

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is CME based in Las Vegas or NY?

    ReplyDelete