(Nov 28): Trading of futures and options on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange halted on Friday due to a technical issue at its data centres, according to a Singapore-based spokesperson for CME Group.
“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centres, our markets are currently halted,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Support is working to resolve the issue in the near term and will advise clients of pre-open details as soon as they are available.”
Contracts including those for US crude oil, gasoline and palm oil — which trades on the Bursa Malaysia exchange via the CME’s electronic platform — were affected in Friday morning trading in Asia, after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Most recent trades for the West Texas Intermediate oil contract were seen at 10.47am Singapore time.
Contracts for Treasuries and S&P 500 futures were also affected, traders said. Other platforms including EBS, used in foreign exchange, were impacted by the halt.
“Liquidity is already thin, so even a brief halt can distort price discovery in Treasuries, foreign exchange and commodities,” said Charu Chanana, the chief investment strategist of Saxo Markets in Singapore. “The main risk is a burst of catch-up volatility.”
CME is one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges across a range of assets from equities and bonds to currencies and commodities. Core exchanges operated by CME include the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Commodity Exchange. CME also has a stake in other exchanges, including the Gulf Mercantile Exchange.
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