Lords of the Windy City
Tonight in Chicago, dozens of traders from the city's teeming futures exchanges will take turns stepping into a boxing ring. In a most unusual charity event, the men will slug it out in "Ringside for Mercy", raising funds for a boys' and girls' school on the city's west side.
The event has long symbolised the tribal friction that has beset relations between the city's two biggest exchanges: the Chicago Mercantile Exchange - "the Merc" - and the Chicago Board of Trade. The $8bn takeover of the smaller CBOT by the Merc this week signals an end to the enmity. It also catapults Chicago - once "hog butcher to the world", in poet Carl Sandburg's words - to being the undisputed centre of global risk management.
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The combination has created the world's largest financial exchange - dwarfing even the New York Stock Exchange. It will host the trading of an array of complex financial instruments known as futures, which are contracts to buy or sell an asset - such as a government bond or a bushel of wheat - at some set future date.
Rudimentary futures were first used in the Japanese rice market in the mid-17th century. But they have exploded in importance in the past five years as traders, banks and companies have used them to protect against global economic uncertainty, interest rate shifts and volatility in commodity markets.
The growth of futures is astonishing. The notional value of trades done daily in the Merc's suite of eurodollar, stock index and foreign exchange futures alone is 20 times that of the value of trades done daily on the NYSE, underscoring a fundamental shift in institutional investor attitudes to asset classes - that is, towards derivatives instruments and away from equities.
It is out of this arcane corner of the markets that two men have emerged to put Chicago on what some would say is now an equal footing with London and New York as a financial centre: Terry Duffy, Merc chairman, and Charlie Carey, his counterpart at the CBOT. "The exchanges are at the heart of Chicago's ascendance into a global marketplace," says Caitlin Zaloom, an assistant professor at New York University who worked as a clerk on the CBOT trading floor.
Both men are Irish-American, which has resonance in a city whose politics were dominated by Irish immigrants for most of the past century. The current mayor Richard M. Daley, represents an Irish dynasty in place since his father - Richard J. Daley, or "The Boss" - reigned over the Windy City as mayor for 22 years until 1976.
But, more important, both exchange chairmen are born deal-makers. The two met 23 years ago in the Merc's hog futures pits. Mr Carey soon moved over to the CBOT's grain pits, where his grandfather and uncle had not only shouted orders on wheat, maize and soya beans before him, but also rose to be chairmen of that exchange.
Now aged 52, his voice is a little hoarse from all the shouting. But he still tries to snatch some time trading and his thick-set frame can often be seen in the CBOT's corn pits. Nor has Mr Carey abandoned the hard-driving habits of the typical Chicago trader. Meals are often spent at Gene & Georgetti's, a famous steak house, where he will occasionally round off lunch with a flaming sambuca.
Like his friend, Mr Duffy rose through the ranks of his exchange, working his way up through the multiple "member committees" that were essential to the power structures of both exchanges. He is a supremely confident public speaker who is close to Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the House of Representatives speaker. Many suspect that Mr Duffy, now aged 53, harbours his own political ambitions. Indeed, both men were part of an elite group of Chicago area businessmen invited to a recent 60th birthday dinner for President George W. Bush, hosted by Mayor Daley.
Yet while the two men have been close, the same was never true of the two exchanges. Les Rosenthal, a former CBOT chairman, recalls that he and Leo Melamed, the then-chairman of the Merc, discussed combining the two exchanges a quarter of a century ago. They immediately ran into resistance from the pit traders who, in those days, held sway as owners of the exchanges.
"The problem was that the two memberships thought each should be top dog. These guys all had vested interests; it was kind of a country club. They said 'hell no, we're not going to line up with those guys'."
Such was the rivalry between the two exchanges that, so one story goes, Mayor Daley once had physically to separate two exchange leaders from each other during a shouting match in his office.
The CBOT, founded in 1848, was the larger exchange. But in 1972, Mr Melamed pioneered the launch of the world's first futures contract that was not based on an agricultural commodity such as pork bellies at the Merc, or grains at the CBOT: a future on foreign currencies. It was an innovation that immediately spawned imitators in London and Frankfurt. China's planned launch of stock index futures in a few months is the latest replica.
Then came the Merc's embrace of electronic trading in 1986, which has come to eclipse the pit trading for which both exchanges had been known. It also helped propel the Merc past the CBOT for the first time in volume of contracts traded.
By the time that Mr Carey became chairman, the dynamics of the rivalry between the two was changing as the Merc achieved a stock market listing. The CBOT followed with its own initial public offering exactly a year ago. With member interest weakened by outside shareholders, it became easier for the leadership of the two exchanges to contemplate combining.
The breakthrough came in 2002, when the exchanges forged a special arrangement under which the CBOT would have itstrades processed at the CME's clearing house, as part of a successful effort to beat back an encroachment from Eurex, the derivatives arm of Deutsche B?rse. The deal was negotiated by Mr Duffy and Mr Carey. But it was the CBOT chairman who was still faced with a painful dilemma: was there an independent future for his exchange, or was selling out to the larger Merc inevitable?
In the end, Mr Carey fell back on his trader's instincts. Many member-traders will cash in $4m each under the deal. "This is the best - and the biggest - trade that Charlie ever made," says Mr Rosenthal. "He didn't just do the trade for his trader friends, who walk away with a good deal. He did a wonderful thing for the city of Chicago."
CBOT+CME：“不打不成交”
在
10月21日晚上的芝加哥，来自该市多家期货交易所的几十位交易员将轮流进入拳击场，在一项最不同寻常的慈善活动中，在“仁慈的拳击场(Ringside for Mercy)”上展开角逐，为该市西区的一所学校筹集善款。
长期以来，这项活动一直是芝加哥两大交易所――芝加哥商业交易所(CME，别称‘Merc’)和芝加哥期货交易所(CBOT)之间部落摩擦的象征。但就在此前一周，芝加哥商业交易所以80亿美元收购了规模较小的芝加哥期货交易所，标志着双方的敌对关系就此终结。此举还迅速提升了芝加哥的地位，使之从诗人卡尔?桑德博格(Carl Sandburg)笔下的“世界屠夫”，一举成为无可争议的全球风险管理中心。
两家交易所的合并缔造了全球最大的金融交易所，即便是纽约证券交易所(NYSE)也相形见绌。它将是一系列名为“期货”的复杂金融工具的交易平台。“期货”即是在未来确定的某一日期买入或卖出某项资产（例如一张政府债券或是1蒲式耳小麦）的合约。
最初的期货交易于17世纪中叶首次出现在日本的米市。但过去5年，期货的重要性急剧上升，交易员、银行和企业都在利用期货规避全球经济不确定性、利率变化和大宗商品市场的波动。
期货市场的发展是惊人的。在芝加哥商业交易所，单是欧洲美元(eurodollar)、股指和外汇期货的日交易额就是纽约证交所日交易额的20倍，突显出机构投资者对资产种类的态度发生了根本性转变――即从股票转向衍生品工具。
灵魂人物
芝加哥商业交易所董事长特里?达菲(Terry Duffy)和芝加哥期货交易所董事长查理? 凯里(Charlie Carey)正是从这一神秘的市场角落脱颖而出，推动芝加哥成为一个著名的金融中心――一些人口中能与伦敦和纽约并驾齐驱的金融中心。纽约大学(New York University)助理教授、曾在芝加哥期货交易所交易大厅任职的凯特琳?扎洛姆(Caitlin Zaloom)表示：“这两大交易所是芝加哥上升成为全球性市场的关键。”
上述两位董事长都是爱尔兰裔美国人，而在过去的一个世纪，芝加哥的政治大多由爱尔兰移民主宰。现任市长理查德? M?戴利(Richard M. Daley)，代表的便是风城（Windy City，芝加哥的别称）的一个爱尔兰王朝。这个王朝始自其父亲理查德? J ?戴利(Richard J. Daley)。作为市长，理查德? J ?戴利统治了芝加哥22年，直到1976年卸任。
然而，更重要的是，两位董事长都是天生的交易商。两人于23年前在芝加哥商业交易所的生猪期货交易场相识。凯里不久转到了芝加哥期货交易所的粮食交易场。在他之前，他的祖父和叔叔不仅也曾做过那里的场内经纪商，高喊着小麦、玉米和大豆订单的报价，而且还相继升任董事长。
凯里现年52岁，由于常年高声喊叫，现在嗓音已略带沙哑。但他仍会抽空做一些交易，在CBOT的玉米交易场，经常可以看到他结实的身躯。凯里也没有放弃典型芝加哥交易员卖命工作的习惯。他经常在著名的牛排店Gene & Georgetti用餐，偶尔会用一瓶烈性的萨姆布卡酒(sambuca)佐餐。
和他的朋友一样，达菲也是在自己的交易所一步一步升起来的，在多个“会员委员会”相继任职后才升到了目前的职位。对两家交易所而言，“会员委员会”都是权力结构的核心。他是一位超级自信的公开演讲者，与众议院议长、来自伊利诺伊州的丹尼斯?哈斯特(Dennis Hastert)关系密切。许多人猜测，现年53岁的达菲有着自己的政治抱负。实际上，在芝加哥市长戴利近日主持的美国总统乔治?布什(George W. Bush)60岁生日晚宴上，达菲和凯里双双作为芝加哥地区的商业精英应邀出席。
此消彼长
然而，虽然二人的关系向来密切，但两家交易所却从来并非如此。芝加哥期货交易所前任董事长雷?罗森塔尔(Les Rosenthal)回忆道，他和时任芝加哥商业交易所董事长的利奥?梅拉米德(Leo Melamed)在25年前曾讨论过两个交易所的合并事宜。他们立即遭到场地交易员的反对。在那个时候，场地交易员作为所有人拥有交易所的控制权。
“问题在于，两家交易所的成员都认为自己应该占统治地位。这些人都有既得利益；这有点像乡村俱乐部。他们说‘当然不，我们不会与那些人为伍’。”
两家交易所之间的对峙是如此严重，为此还有一个故事，两家交易所的领导曾经在戴利市长的办公室里吵得不可开交，戴利市长只好亲手把二人拉开。
成立于1848年的芝加哥期货交易所规模曾经比对手更大一些。但在1972年，梅拉米德率先启动了外汇期货合约，这是全球首个不以大宗农产品（如芝加哥商业交易所的猪肉或芝加哥期货交易所的谷物）为基础的期货合约。这项创新在伦敦和法兰克福立即出现了大量效仿者。中国计划在几个月后推出的股指期货也是一个最新的复制品。
然后，芝加哥商业交易所于1986年引入了电子交易，使得让两家交易所声名远扬的场内交易黯然失色，并推动芝加哥商业交易所的合约交易量首次超过芝加哥期货交易所。
顺应形势
到凯里成为董事长时，由于芝加哥商业交易所已完成股票上市，两者之间的敌对状态出现了改变。就在一年前，芝加哥期货交易所也进行了首次公开发行(IPO)。随着外部股东削弱了会员权益，两家交易所领导层要考虑合并事宜也变得更容易了。
突破性进展发生在2002年。当时，为成功击退德意志证交所(Deutsche B?rse)衍生品分支机构欧洲期货交易所(Eurex)的入侵，芝加哥期货交易所和芝加哥商业交易所作出了一项特殊安排：芝加哥期货交易所可在芝加哥商业交易所的结算公司处理自己的交易。这项安排是由达菲和凯里协商达成的。不过，芝加哥期货交易所董事长仍然面临着痛苦的抉择：他的交易所是会继续独立存在，还是不可避免地被出售给规模更大的芝加哥商业交易所？
最后，凯里遵从了自己交易员的本能。在这笔交易中，许多具有会员资格的交易员每人可从交易中获得400万美元现金。“这是查理做过的最好、也是最大的一笔交易，”罗森塔尔表示。“他做这笔交易不仅是为自己的交易员朋友，让他们得以满意地离开，他也为芝加哥做了件非常棒的事。”
