Under the counter

Closing timeOnce again it seems the end of FO Week's year has rolled round - for you will have to wait until 9 January for the next issue to hit your desks or doorsteps - and for the second consecutive year those inconsiderate types in the derivatives industry have waited until the very last day before we go to press on issue 50 to break a big news story on us. Last year it was Harris Brumfield's open letter to the futures industry, now in 2005 we get news that CME is looking to offer its experience of modernising a large exchange to Nymex, which, let's face it, needs it. Tempting though I'm sure it was for the powers that be at FO Week to simply ignore the breaking news and run off to the...