CME

Abbreviation with 2 meanings

CME
Stands forCoronal mass ejection
Meanings2
CategoriesScience & Engineering, Business & Finance

CME has two meanings. It stands for Coronal mass ejection (astronomy & Space) or Chicago Mercantile Exchange (stock market & investing).

Meanings of CME at a glance

#CME stands forContext
1Coronal mass ejectionScience & Engineering › Astronomy & Space
2Chicago Mercantile ExchangeBusiness & Finance › Stock Market & Investing

1. Coronal mass ejection

Science & Engineering · Astronomy & Space Abbreviations

Huge eruption of magnetized plasma, often billions of tonnes, from the Sun's outer atmosphere into space. A CME aimed at Earth arrives within one to three days and can trigger geomagnetic storms that produce auroras far from the poles and disrupt satellites, radio and power grids.

Example: Forecasters issued a severe storm watch after an Earth-directed CME left the Sun at 2,000 km per second.

The May 2024 geomagnetic storm, the strongest in two decades, made auroras visible as far south as Mexico. The 1859 Carrington Event sparked telegraph fires, and a 1989 storm blacked out Quebec for nine hours. CMEs often, but not always, accompany solar flares, and coronagraphs on SOHO and other spacecraft track them.

2. Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations

World's largest derivatives exchange, owned by CME Group, where futures and options on interest rates, stock indices, currencies, agricultural products and other assets are traded. Its E-mini S&P 500 futures are among the most actively traded contracts anywhere.

Example: Overnight CME futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street.

Founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. CME Group, formed in 2007 by merging with the Chicago Board of Trade, also owns NYMEX and COMEX. Its FedWatch tool, based on fed funds futures prices, is widely cited for market-implied probabilities of Federal Reserve rate moves.

More astronomy & Space abbreviations

  • AU – Astronomical unit
  • BBN – Big Bang nucleosynthesis
  • BH – Black hole
  • CMB – Cosmic microwave background
  • CNSA – China National Space Administration
  • COBE – Cosmic Background Explorer
  • CSM – Command and Service Module
  • DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test

See all 83 astronomy & Space abbreviations →

More stock market & investing abbreviations

  • CAC 40 – Cotation Assistée en Continu 40 (continuous assisted quotation 40)
  • Cboe – Cboe Global Markets (Chicago Board Options Exchange)
  • CBOT – Chicago Board of Trade
  • CEF – Closed-end fund
  • CUSIP – Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures
  • DAX – Deutscher Aktienindex (German stock index)
  • DCA – Dollar-cost averaging
  • DEF 14A – Definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A)

See all 110 stock market & investing abbreviations →