CME lowers gold, silver, copper, natgas margins

Nov 15 (Reuters) - The CME Group on Thursday lowered margins for natural gas, gold,
silver, copper, lean hog and live cattle futures, effective after close of business on Tuesday,
Nov. 20.
CME, the biggest operator of U.S. futures exchanges, cut initial margins on COMEX 100 Gold
Futures 18.5 percent to $7,425 a contract from $9,113, but left maintenance margins for the
yellow metal unchanged.
The exchange operator trimmed maintenance margins to trade silver to $11,000 per contract,
from $12,500, and initial margins to $12,100 from $16,875 per contract.
Maintenance margins for copper were lowered by 12.5 percent to $3,500 per contract from
$4,000, while maintenance margins to trade natural gas Henry Hub futures as well as NYMEX
natural gas futures were clipped 10 percent each.
Among agricultural commodities, maintenance margins for lean hogs and live cattle futures
were pared 16 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.
To see the complete list of margin changes by CME click on:Below is a table of the commodities with their new maintenance and initial margins in dollars:

LEAN HOG FUTURES (LN) Current Initial Maintenance New Initial Maintenance
LN Spec 1,688 1,250 1,418 1,050
LN Hedge/Member 1,250 1,250 1,050 1,050
LIVE CATTLE FUTURES (LC)
LC Spec 1,620 1,200 1,350 1,000
LC Hedge/Member 1,200 1,200 1,000 1,000
COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES (GC)
GC Spec 9,113 6,750 7,425 6,750
GC Hedge/Member 6,750 6,750 6,750 6,750
COMEX 5000 SILVER FUTURES (SI)
SI Spec Mths 1-4 16,875 12,500 12,100 11,000
SI Hedge/Member Mths 1-4 12,500 12,500 11,000 11,000
COMEX COPPER FUTURES (HG)
HG Spec Mths 1-4 5,400 4,000 3,850 3,500
HG Hedge/Member Mths 1-4 4,000 4,000 3,500 3,500
NATURAL GAS HENRY HUB FUTURE (NG)
NG Spec Mth 1 2,750 2,500 2,475 2,250
NG Hedge/Member Mth 1 2,500 2,500 2,250 2,250
NG Spec Mth 2 2,640 2,400 2,365 2,150
NG Hedge/Member Mth 2 2,400 2,400 2,150 2,150
NYMEX NATURAL GAS FUTURES (HP)
HP Spec Mth 1 2,750 2,500 2,475 2,250
HP Hedge/Member Mth 1 2,500 2,500 2,250 2,250
HP Spec Mth 2 2,640 2,400 2,365 2,150
HP Hedge/Member Mth 2 2,400 2,400 2,150 2,150