CME Group decision to keep its gold and silver metals complex on Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT)’s trading platform until June has fueled speculation over the contracts’ fate and CME Group eyeing up New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a move potentially freed up as New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shifts its interest over to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

In a 4 October CME Group memo obtained by FO Week, CME Group told its metals customers that it would continue to fully host its full- and mini-sized gold and silver contracts on E-CBoT, and added that “details of a longer term solution will be provided at a later date”.

Providing short-term certainty on the complex followed by a sentence that gives no long-term answers has powered the rumour mill within the industry.

Some sources believe the June 2008 date is meant to simply buy the...