News Releases Print Email CME Group Launches New Natural Gas and Power Markets - New contracts

available for trade on CME Direct CHICAGO, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of a broad suite of new natural gas and power markets. These new contracts will be listed as futures on CME Globex, the New York Mercan tile Exchange (NYMEX) trading floor and CME ClearPort, and will be available for trading on CME Direct, a sophisticated platform offering side-by-side trading a nd straight-through processing and clearing of exchange-listed and over-the-coun ter (OTC) energy markets. This follows the May introduction of CME Direct, which offered industry participants access to CME Group's suite of global benchmark e nergy products, including Henry Hub Natural Gas. "The addition of these contracts vastly expands the breadth of listed products o ffered on CME Direct and offers our customers in the natural gas and power marke ts new trading strategies that better meet their needs," said Gary Morsches, Man aging Director, Global Energy at CME Group. "This offers a fuller, more robust t rading and clearing solution for our customers as they manage risk in the energy markets." The new natural gas and power product suite includes 164 natural gas contracts a vailable at 52 trading hubs and 48 power contracts for the four most liquid Nort h American ISOs. It also offers market participants several new trading strategi es including calendar strip and strip spread pricing, intra-month calendar strip trade pricing, cross basis swaps, and ISO and DART spreads for the power market s. All of these contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of the NYMEX. "With unparalleled access to CME Group's listed and aggregated OTC markets, CME Direct provides a highly automated, sophisticated new way for the natural gas a nd power industry to execute their trading strategies," said Michel Everaert, Ma naging Director, OTC Solutions. "CME Direct's global distribution and real-time access allows market participants who have never used our services to access our markets and benefit from our risk management products." CME Direct launched in May 2012 supporting trading for CME Group's energy comple x, which has average daily trading volumes of approximately 1.9 million contract s. CME Group recently announced the launch of CME Direct Messenger, an instant m essaging platform for energy traders, as part of CME Direct. For more informatio n on CME Direct, please visit www.cmegroup.com/trading/cme-direct/index. As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www. cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offe r the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign e xchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex electronic tradin g platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also o perates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing p roviders, which offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitiga te counterparty credit risk. CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chica go Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are register ed trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Com modity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com. CME-G SOURCE CME Group