Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
NPR News

Merc's 'Pork Belly' Trading Pit Closing

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.

Listen 0:00

The once-raucous pork belly pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will soon be history.

The storied open outcry pit — where orders are shouted out and contracts bought and sold with a series of complex hand signals — won't re-open when the Merc merges its trading floors and other operations with the Chicago Board of Trade next spring.

The pork belly pit is quiet today compared with its heyday in the 1980s, as more and more trading is done electronically.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

At LAist, we focus on what matters to our community: clear, fair, and transparent reporting that helps you make decisions with confidence and keeps powerful institutions accountable.

Your support for independent local news is critical. With federal funding for public media gone, LAist faces a $1.7 million yearly shortfall. Speaking frankly, how much reader support we receive now will determine the strength of this reliable source of local information now and for years to come.

This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.

That’s why we’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Thank you for understanding how essential it is to have an informed community and standing up for free press.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Chip in now to fund your local journalism

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right