NEW YORK, NY, September 2, 2005 — The New York Mercantile Exchange and the New York Board of Trade® (NYBOT®) today announced their World Trade Center commemoration plans for Friday, September 9.

The New York Mercantile Exchange metals futures and options markets and the New York Board of Trade Coffee "C"®, Sugar No. 14SM, ethanol, cocoa, Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice (FCOJ), pulp, and financial markets will open on time, and Sugar No. 11SM will have a delayed opening until 9:05 AM. Both exchanges will then observe moments of silence at 8:46 AM, 9:03 AM, 9:59 AM, and 10:29 AM, marking the times that each building was hit by a plane and that each of them collapsed. The markets will remain closed for an additional 30 minutes after the final minute of silence, in memory of each of the former members, staff and clerks affiliated with the two exchanges who died that day, and will reopen at 11:00 AM. Trading and clearing on the New York Mercantile Exchange electronic systems will be closed during the same periods.

Open outcry trading in the New York Mercantile Exchange energy futures and options markets and the New York Board of Trade Cotton No. 2SM and Sugar No. 11 futures and options markets will not open at their regular times, but instead will have a delayed openings, energy at 11:00 AM, cotton pre–open at 11:00 AM (with the opening at 11:05 AM).

The New York Mercantile Exchange moved into its World Financial Center headquarters in July 1997 from its previous home at 4 World Trade Center. After September 11, the exchange was the first in New York to reopen trading when it launched its web-based NYMEX ACCESS® trading system on September 14, 2001, and the first business to reopen west of Ground Zero, when it resumed floor trading on September 17.

The New York Board of Trade’s trading facilities, back offices, and data center were completely destroyed in the September 11 attack. Because the exchange had established an emergency backup facility after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, its trading floor was the first to re—open on September 17, 2001. The New York Board of Trade has operated out of the New York Mercantile Exchange building, leasing trading floor and office space, since September 2003.

Forward Looking and Cautionary Statements
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