Major industry powering Chicago at risk of leaving

Financial challenge: A trader works in the stock index options pit at the CBOE in Chicago. The city’s mayor is considering a transaction tax on trades to plug a budget deficit. — Bloomberg

Chicago: The letters are stamped all over the hallways of Chicago’s giant skyscrapers and grand office buildings. DRW, IMC, CME, CBOE.

These are some of the derivatives firms that collectively handle trillions of US dollars a year in trades, greasing the wheels of global markets with everything from stock options to corn futures. Most of them have called Chicago home for decades – providing thousands of jobs within the city’s US$75bil finance industry.