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trading commodities. The commodities ranged from grains to precious
metals, and New York and Chicago (perhaps due to their geographical
advantages) were developed as major centers for warehousing and
distributing agricultural goods. At that time many smaller exchanges,
numbered in hundreds, began to disappear and most of the trading was
shifted to these large centers. Today New York and Chicago have the
distinct position of having the major commodity exchanges in the US,
if not the world. These include:
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBT) for grains, bonds, and short-term
interest rates.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for livestock, currencies,
and stock index futures.
The New York Commodities Exchange (COMEX) for precious metals,
copper, and aluminum.
The New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE) for cotton and the dollar
index.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (MERC) for petroleum and
precious metals.
The New York Futures Exchange (NYFE) for commodity and stock
indices.
The New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (CSCE) for coffee,
sugar, and cocoa.
*Note: In June of 2004, the two historic exchanges, the New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE) and the Coffee, Sugar, & Cocoa Exchange (CSCE) merged to form the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT).
As a result of this merger, all previous exchanges and subsidiaries ceased to exist, including the Coffee, Sugar, & Cocoa Exchange, the New York Cotton Exchange, the Citrus Associates of the New York Cotton Exchange, the New York Futures Exchange (NYFE), and the FINEX Exchange. All markets are now referred to as the New York Board of Trade or NYBOT.
Whereas many of these exchanges started as centers to trade real
goods, today most of the trades in these exchanges are on paper (now
mostly the electronic version of paper — the computer) with only a
very small percentage of the contracts (which are the paper
representations of the commodities) resulting in actual delivery of
commodities. In other words, a person buying coffee contracts does not
necessarily anticipate receiving coffee beans in his backyard when the
contracts come due, unless he wants to. …
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