CME has capped off a hectic week by reporting strong financial results from 2014 and rising trading volumes in January, with its CEO attributing the success to a rise across the group’s entire range of products.
CME’s fourth-quarter revenues rose 22% and represented its second highest of all-time, while average daily volumes in 2014 reached a record 13.7 million contracts.
Options trading rose 38% in Q4 while futures grew 29% with October representing the most active trading month in the exchange’s history.
The results follow the exchange group pulling out of a much talked about acquisition deal with interedealer broker GFI Group and the announcement that it would close most of its open outcry futures trading floors in Chicago and New York.
On an investor call, chief executive Phupinder Gill cited ‘significant growth in every product area’ as being behind the record quarter.
He also noted a surge of trading from outside the US.
“During the quarter, we traded 3 million contracts per day from outside the United States, by far, the highest level we've ever seen,” he added.
“Revenue from outside the US accounted for approximately 30% of our Globex revenue and 24% of the volume. Our liquidity is building around the clock. You certainly saw that on our record day in October, when a much higher proportion traded from outside the US than an average day.”
Revenues from clearing and transaction feeds rose to $713 million compared with $576 million in Q4 2013. This was largely due to a spike in interest rates trading throughout October 2014.
As a result, overall revenue was up 20% and earnings per share rose more than 50%.
“Our focus is to continue to aggressively draw attention to the advantages of our products, and I would expect the debate about the Fed’s decision-making to remain in place,” added Gill.
In January 2015 CME’s average daily activity rose 21% year-on-year to 15.6 million contracts a day, its highest start to the year since 2008.
Interest rates trading was up 22% as were volumes in equity indexes. Trading in foreign exchange contracts rose 21%.