CME Daily Trading Volume Slumps 18% in July From Year Ago

08/02/2012| 09:41am US/Eastern

Recommend:

0

--CME daily trading volume down 18% from year ago, 21% from June

--July trading hit by EU economic turmoil, low rates

--ICE daily trading volume up 17% from a year earlier, down 15% from June

(Updates to add July volume figures from IntercontinentalExchange Inc. starting in fifth paragraph)

 
   By Saabira Chaudhuri 
 

CME Group Inc. (>> CME Group Inc) saw its trading volume fall last month from a year ago, pressured by economic turmoil gripping the European Union and key interest rates stuck at historically low levels.

Daily volume at the world's largest futures market operator averaged 10.4 million contracts last month, down 18% from July 2011 and down 21% from June.

Daily volume for interest-rate futures, the company's largest product by that metric, averaged 3.9 million contracts a day in July, down 37% from a year earlier and down 24% from June.

Equity index volume averaged 2.5 million contracts a day last month, a 14% decline from a year earlier and 29% from June's levels.

Rival exchange operator IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (>> IntercontinentalExchange Inc), meanwhile, said its daily volume averaged 1.53 million contracts last month, up 17% from a year earlier but down 15% from June.

Daily volume in its largest product, Brent Crude futures and options, jumped 46% from July 2011 but was down 12% from June. Gasoil futures and options showed a 25% increase and 5.8% increase, respectively.

Class A shares of CME closed Wednesday at $51.11 and were inactive premarket. Shares of ICE were also inactive from a Wednesday close of $129.40.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@dowjones.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

0