CBT DISCUSSES MAJOR CHANGES FOR RENOVATION

  Chicago Board of Trade (CBT)
  agricultural and financial futures markets could be in for a
  period of major upheaval later this year if the exchange goes
  ahead with planned renovation.
      A CBT spokesman told Reuters the exchange was looking at a
  number of options to identify the most cost effective and
  efficient way to proceed, including one which would involve
  moving the entire grains floor out of the building and into the
  nearby MidAmerica Commodity Exchange.
      "One of (CBT Chairman) Karsten Mahlmann's agenda items has
  been to proceed with renovation in the financial futures room,"
  the spokesman said.
      Another CBT official, executive vice president George
  Sladoje, said the issue would be discussed this Friday at a
  special meeting on the exchange floor.
      A number of presentations have been made with regard to
  renovating the financial futures room, Sladoje said. "We've
  looked at five or six different alternatives, involving such
  things as flip-flopping the trading rooms," he added.
      It is conceivable that under a couple of these plans, we
  might use the MidAmerica Exchange temporarily for some CBT
  markets, Sladoje said.
      "If we move out of one floor entirely, then the
  construction period will be about a year," he said, adding that
  the issue was likely to go to a membership vote first and then
  be on the drawing board for eight months to a year.
      The CBT spokesman stressed that discussions were very
  preliminary at this stage and nothing was likely to begin until
  this summer at the earliest.
      In order to renovate the crowded financial futures pits,
  exchange officials have discussed providing them a temporary
  home next door in the present grains-dominated area.
      This could involve moving CBT markets in U.S. Treasury Bond
  futures, Treasury Notes, Muni-bonds, and options on T-Bonds and
  T-Notes through an adjoining corridor, while utilizing the
  MidAmerica floor for such CBT futures contracts as corn, wheat,
  soybeans, soybean products and agricultural options.
      Any such moves could meet with opposition among some CBT
  members.
      One senior floor trader said the financial futures room
  badly needs renovating.
      "There is talk the grains floor will shift to the MidAm and
  the financials will move to the grains area," he said.
      The CBT spokesman said another option being discussed was
  to renovate the financial floor in quadrants, one quarter at a
  time. "The first step, after deciding the most effective way to
  proceed, would be to get architectural and engineering
  drawings," he said.
      He added that it was difficult at present to determine an
  exact time frame for any possible moves. "This is a major
  undertaking and a process that would spread out over next
  year," he said.
      Floor traders at the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange, which
  merged with the CBT about a year ago, said they were preparing
  to vacate their floor at the end of this month.
      Space has recently been cleared for them at the CBT by
  moving its Major Market Index pit into the area once reserved
  for lightly-traded CBT gold and silver futures, which now share
  their trading area.
      The MidAm specializes in mini-contracts in grains,
  livestock, metals, financials and foreign currencies as well as
  some options contracts.
      "Rumor has it that the CBT grains are coming over here
  because the bonds are too crowded," one MidAm trader said.
      Another source at the MidAm said this change could take
  place by July or August.
  

