The Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday said it would temporarily suspend calculation and distribution of the exchange’s lean hog and feeder cattle indexes due to a lack of relevant market data during the partial U.S. government shutdown.
“We will continue to monitor the situation as it relates to any potential changes to the settlement procedures for the October 2013 livestock futures and options contracts and provide updates accordingly,” the exchange said in a statement.
Both indexes are a barometer of cash prices compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service and are used to set the cash settlement prices for lean hog and feeder cattle futures.
The CME lean hog index lags cash prices by two days. CME October hogs will expire from trading on Oct. 14, with its final settlement price on Oct. 16.
October feeder cattle is slated for expiration on Oct. 31. It has a seven-day index leading into the final settlement, which is calculated the day after October contract expires. — Reuters
