2nd UPDATE: US Futures Exchanges Mark Return To Growth In 2010

The largest U.S. derivatives exchanges resumed double-digit growth in trading volume last year, helped by heightened investor appetite for risk and hedging tools.

CME Group Inc. (CME) and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) on Tuesday reported that customer business on their futures, options and swaps platforms continued to rise in December, amid fluctuations in global interest rates and commodity prices.

"People are feeling confident again about putting risk capital to work," said Larry Schneider, head of business development for Chicago-based brokerage Zaner Group.

Global futures exchange touted their stability through the financial crisis, though they suffered during 2009 and the start of 2010 as banks and hedge funds trimmed trading.

The European debt crisis, stimulus efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and another boom in commodities have since spurred trading.

CME, the world's largest futures exchange operator, on Tuesday reported that trading activity across its platforms climbed 19% year-on-year with an average 12.2 million contracts changing hands per day in 2010. Volume had fallen 20% in 2009 from the previous year.

IntercontinentalExchange recorded a 26% rise in volume last year to a record average turnover of 1.3 million contracts per day.

"From Brent crude oil to Sugar No. 11 and the U.S. Dollar Index, ICE's business reflects the demand for hedging and risk management that emerging and developed economies require," said Jeff Sprecher, chief executive of ICE, in a statement.

Shares in CME were flat in midday trade Tuesday at $316.21. ICE shares were slightly lower at $118.65.

Activity in interest-rate futures, CME's most heavily traded line of products, rose 30% to 5.4 million contracts per day in 2010 as investors hedged deterioriating credit conditions in Europe and the ripple effects of the U.S. Fed's second round of quantitative easing, pinned on a planned $600 billion purchase of Treasurys.

Currency shifts have also seen fast-growing foreign-exchange futures in the past year overshadow agricultural commodity futures, among CME's longest-running markets. About 919,000 FX futures traded per day at CME in 2010, compared to 913,000 commodity futures.

Energy trading at CME rose 11%. The growth offset a flat year for stock-index futures, linked to anticipated shifts in equity benchmarks like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500. Activity in the products at CME, which in February formed a joint venture to take ownership of the DJIA, came in just a bit lower than 2009 levels.

Eurex, the world's second-largest derivatives operator after CME, on Monday said average daily volume dipped to 10.4 million contracts last year from 10.5 million in 2009.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

-Matt Jarzemsky contributed to this article.

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