CME Says No Error in Treasury Futures Trading as Bernanke Spoke

CME Group Inc. (CME), the world’s largest futures exchange, said there is no indication of erroneous trading in 10-year Treasury futures contracts today after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spoke.

The June 2012 10-year note futures contract slid from about 131 11/32 to the day’s low of 130 23/32 in the five or so minute after Bernanke’s comments were released. That corresponds to a drop of $625 per $100,000 contract.

Bernanke affirmed that interest rates are likely to stay low at least through late 2014 without offering any indication that further monetary easing is under consideration. He testified to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington.

“There were no issues that were reported,” said Michael Shore, a spokesman for the Chicago-based futures exchange owner. “We have not called any trades into question and have no reports of error trades.”

The contract had changed hands 1.36 million times today as of 2 p.m. in Chicago, Shore said. That compares with an average daily volume this year to date in the 10-year futures of 1.13 million, he said.

Trading volume in the contract was 2.77 million yesterday and 3.12 million the day before, Shore said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Leising in New York at mleising@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net