CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy, left, conducting a tour of the CME Group trading floors in November 2008.
(Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)

Dow Jones Newswires | CME Group Inc.’s first-quarter earnings
rose 21 percent, beating analysts’ forecasts, as the world’s biggest futures exchange operator benefited from increased volume.

Executive Chairman Terry Duffy called the results the company’s best since 2008, and Chief Executive Craig Donohue said volumes are trending positively.

CME has reported higher first-quarter volume, seeing growth across most of its segments. In February, it said it would enhance a pact with Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa SA with a new joint trading platform that they may market to other financial exchanges, pushing the two exchanges into the highly competitive technology sector.

CME reported a profit of $240.2 million, or $3.62 a share, up from $199.1 million, or $3 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.1 percent, to $693.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast earnings of $3.60 a share on $702 million in revenue.

Operating margin rose to 59.8 percent from 59.7 percent.

CME said this month that daily trading volume increased 12 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the first quarterly gain in more than a year.

Shares closed at $330.31 Wednesday and down 23 cents in early Nasdaq trading.