Longer Hours in Cash Market Cause Confusion
Merchants fail to agree on how to calculate their daily bids
The CME Group's longer trading hours has brought some uncertainty to the U.S. Heartland as the country's biggest merchants fail to agree on how to calculate their daily bids.
Until this week, merchandisers at grain elevators across the country would calculate their buying prices based on the Chicago Board of Trade's official settlement prices, which were set after the day's trading ended at 1:15 p.m. CDT. The bids were based on the futures settlement price plus or minus a small "basis" differential for the specific location.
