CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange)
Example: Your beef vendor points at "the CME limit-up on cattle" to justify a mid-week price hike. That's a futures move — a bet on prices months out. The Cost Index ignores the screen and reads the cash side: USDA's wholesale beef reports for what cattle and cutout actually traded at this week, so you can tell a real market move from a vendor's framing.
the U.S. commodity futures market
The U.S. commodity futures market, run by CME Group, where traders buy and sell standardized contracts on the future price of cattle, hogs, milk and dairy, and grains. The Cost Index deliberately does not use it: it tracks physical wholesale prices — the cash market, what a distributor charges this week — not financial futures.
Why it matters
A futures price is a bet on where a commodity is headed months out — not what shows up on your invoice, and it can swing on speculation detached from the cash market. Futures are for hedgers and traders; to tell a restaurant what it will pay, the Cost Index reads the cash side (USDA wholesale reports), not the futures screen.
Frequently asked
Does the Cost Index use futures prices?
No. The Cost Index reads physical wholesale prices — the cash market, what a distributor actually charges this week, from public USDA reports — not CME futures. A futures price is a bet on where a commodity is headed months out; it is not what lands on your invoice, and it can swing on speculation detached from the cash price. Futures serve hedgers and traders, not an operator trying to read this week's cost, so the index leaves them out.
What actually is the CME?
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange — part of CME Group — is the U.S. commodity futures market. Traders buy and sell standardized contracts on the future price of things like cattle, hogs, milk and dairy, and grains. It is a financial market for betting on and hedging price direction, not a record of what physical goods sold for this week.
If the CME isn't used, where do the numbers come from?
Public USDA wholesale and mandatory reports for the cash market — what goods actually changed hands at — with BLS, FRED, EIA, and NOAA used to corroborate direction. Every reading traces to a dated public report you can look up, never a futures screen.
- BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) — the U.S. price, wage & jobs statistics agency
- USDA Market News — USDA’s public market-price reports
- USDA Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) — mandatory packer price reporting to USDA
- USDA Dairy Product Sales Report (NDPSR) — the weekly U.S. dairy price benchmark
- FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) — the public front door to U.S. economic data
- EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) — the U.S. federal energy-statistics agency
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