Financial market operator CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) is trading flat at $281.10 at last check, after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's CyrusOne branch suffered a cooling issue at a data center. This triggered a shutdown of all options, futures, and fixed-income trading, which resumed at 8:30 a.m. ET.
CME has been attempting to recover from its October lows near $260, bouncing off the 80-day moving average just last week. CME has held its own in the long-term, however, with the equity now sporting a year-over-year gain of 18.5%.
Puts have been more popular than usual in the options pits lately. CME's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.94 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 95% of readings from the past year.
Plus, options are affordable. CME Group's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 18% stands higher than just 12% of all other readings from the past year, implying that near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.
