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CME Group (CME) Q1 Volumes Drop Y/Y in All Product Lines

CME Group Inc. CME reported soft average daily volume (ADV) for the first quarter and March 2021. ADV of 21.8 million contracts per day was down 19% year over year in the first quarter due to lower volumes in all six product lines. There were 61 trading days in the first quarter of this year.

Interest rate volume of 10.3 million contracts per day fell 25%. Energy volume of 2.4 million contracts declined 27% year over year, while Foreign exchange volumes dropped 21% to about 0.9 million contracts per day. Metals volume of 0.8 million contracts per day declined 24%. Moreover, Equity index volume of 6.1 million contracts per day fell 6% and Agricultural volume of 1.5 million contracts per day dropped 2%.

Despite the fall in March volumes, we expect the company’s operating leverage and compelling suite of products to help it record higher volumes going forward. CME Group maintains a solid market share of about 90% in global futures trading and clearing services.

Concurrently, it reported ADV 21.7 million contracts for March. ADV dropped 32%, attributable to lower volumes across all six product lines.

Expansion of futures products in the emerging markets plus an increase in non-transaction related opportunities as well as OTC offerings should continue to contribute modestly to the top line in the years ahead.

Increasing electronic trading volume adds scalability and hence leverage to CME Group’s operating model. Efforts to expand and cross-sell through strategic alliances, acquisitions, new product initiatives and a strong global presence will likely drive growth.

Shares of CME Group, carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), have outperformed the industry in the year-to-date period. The stock has gained 13.9% compared with the industry’s increase of 5.9%. Its solid fundamentals will likely help the stock retain its growth momentum.


Recently, MarketAxess Holdings MKTX reported March volumes of $689.6 billion consisting of $292.6 billion in credit volume and $397.0 billion in rates volume.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same industry are OTC Markets Group OTCM and Intercontinental Exchange ICE.

OTC Markets Group came up with a four-quarter average surprise of 22.71%. It sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Intercontinental Exchange came up with a four-quarter average surprise of 3.67%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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