By Jim Kharouf

In response to John Lothian’s column “A Bad Trade” on Thursday, which argued that the CME Group should not sell the iconic CBOT building in Chicago:

It is often said that futures trades are a zero-sum game, where for every winner there is a loser on the other side of a trade. Given the size and diversity of the markets, I always found this theoretically correct, but a bit overly simplistic. So too is the idea that because CME Group has reportedly found a buyer for the CBOT building’s north and south towers for $150 million to $180 million, the CME must be the loser in this transaction.

John thought the decision makers on this must have been “numbskulls” to sell such historically valuable property in a historically down market. But it’s time to look beyond Chicago.

The CFTC votes 4-1 to require commodity-including mutual funds to register with the agency. NYSE-E’s Duncan Niederauer faces a DB-less future, and surveys the coming challenges. In the latest episode of, “There Will Be Greece,” the Eurozone turns its back to the Mediterranean country’s latest budget cut package, calling it incomplete. In the top box, JLN Editor-in-Chief Jim Kharouf takes a swing at JLN Boss-of-All John Lothian’s opinion of CME Group’s CBOT Building deal; and John bids adieu to Jeremy Grant of the Financial Times (who is only moving to Singapore, not offworld).

by John J. Lothian

Word broke yesterday that the CME Group had a buyer for the historic CBOT Building and the deal would close by June.  The price of the deal was $150 to $180 million.

I just have one question.  What numbskulls would sell a building at the corner of LaSalle and Jackson in Chicago?  My apologies for name calling, but I just find this stupid.  This is the greatest location in the Chicago financial district and it’s worth more in intangibles than all the money anyone could give me for this building.

The CME Group is a money machine.  It does not need the cash.  With interest rates low, this is the time to buy real estate, not sell it.

By John J. Lothian

A year ago at this time,  John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. was showing people something that we were working on behind the curtain; MarketsReformWiki.

We showed people the site and what we had, what we hoped to have and what we thought we needed.  On February 28, we will celebrate the one year anniversary of the launch of this global regulatory reform online tool.  The pressing question in the office is whether we will reach 1 million page views in the first year.  We just passed 900K this week.