CFTC head meets with exchanges ahead of Hill appearance

Ahead of a hearing on what happened when stocks fell precipitously last week, regulators and exchange leaders held meetings Monday on the unusual trading. 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who will testify Tuesday afternoon before the House Financial Services Committee, called meetings "constructive" with leaders from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. 

"Today's meetings with the futures exchanges were constructive in providing information regarding the market events of May 6," Gensler said in a statement. "The exchanges have been very cooperative in essential data and analyses relating to their respective markets."

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro met with six exchanges on Monday and also will testify later today on what happened last week. The SEC and CFTC have launched an investigation into the nearly 1,000-point freefall on Thursday. They have said they will make their findings public. 

Gensler and Schapiro also met with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday, along with representatives from the futures and securities exchanges to "discuss contributing factors of the unusual trading and exchanges' preliminary thoughts on how to best protect investors."