ICE Reports 16% Increase in Average Daily Futures Volume for March; Record Quarterly Futures Volume, ADV and OTC Commissions

IntercontinentalExchange(NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today reported record futures volume and average daily volume (ADV) for the first quarter of 2011. Futures ADV increased 24% in the first quarter of 2011, including year-over-year growth of 16% for the month of March 2011. ICE also achieved record average daily commissions (ADC) of $1.63 million in its OTC energy business during the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19% from the prior first quarter.

Global Futures Exchanges

ICE operates four regulated futures exchanges: ICE Futures Europe, ICE Futures U.S., ICE Futures Canada and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE).

• March 2011 volume across all ICE futures exchanges increased 16% from March 2010, to 34,371,954 contracts, the third consecutive monthly volume record. ICE Futures Europe also established a third consecutive monthly volume record of 24,280,517 contracts. ADV at ICE Futures Europe was 1,055,675 contracts, an increase of 26% over March 2010. ADV at ICE Futures U.S. declined 3% to 422,741 contracts.
• First quarter 2011 ADV for all ICE futures contracts grew 24% from the prior first quarter to a record 1,596,165 contracts, including record ADV of 1,151,645 contracts at ICE Futures Europe. Volume across the exchanges increased 26% to a record 98,962,267 contracts in the quarter.

Energy and Credit OTC Transaction Revenues

• First quarter 2011 ADC for ICE’s OTC energy business were a record $1.63 million, up 19% from the first quarter of 2010.
• Revenues from ICE’s credit default swap (CDS) trade execution, processing and clearing totaled $39 million, down 9% from the first quarter of 2010 and up 4% from the fourth quarter of 2010, including $13 million from CDS clearing.

Operating and Financial Guidance Update

• ICE expects acquisition-related transaction costs for the three months ended March 31, 2011 in the range of $3 million to $4 million.  These costs relate to external direct investment banking, legal, accounting and tax transaction costs incurred for the potential acquisition of NYSE Euronext, as well as costs incurred for other potential transactions and strategic opportunities.  

March 2011 Review

• ICE Futures Europe records:
  • The ICE Brent and Gasoil futures contracts established monthly volume records of 11,120,576 and 6,638,953 contracts, respectively.
  • The ICE U.K. National Balancing Point (NBP) Natural Gas futures contract established monthly volume and ADV records of 695,410 and 30,235, respectively.
  • The ICE Gasoil futures contract established a daily volume record of 523,053 contracts on March 16.
  • The ECX EUA futures contract established a daily volume a record of 52,645 on March 16.
  • The ICE U.K. NBP Natural Gas futures contract established a daily volume record of 56,380 contracts on March 14.
• ICE Futures U.S. records:
  • USDX futures established a monthly record of 729,472 contracts.
  • The Russell 1000 Value Index mini futures established a monthly record of 11,833 contracts.
• ICE Futures Europe announced the availability of its products in Brazil following authorization by Brazilian financial regulator Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios (CVM).
• ICE announced the appointment of Senator Judd Gregg to the IntercontinentalExchange Board of Directors.
• Creditex introduced electronic trading for the most liquid CDX indexes on March 7.  
• ICE Futures Europe announced the first trade of the ICE U.K. NBP Natural Gas options contract on March 8.
• ICE Futures Europe introduced the first Brent Crude cracks to U.S.-refined products on March 14.
• ICE announced the April 4 launch of 15 cleared OTC global oil products.
• ICE extended its exclusive license for Russell® indexes, as well as an expansion of the agreement to include international indexes.
• ICE announced the April 18 introduction of clearing for freight and iron ore swaps.
• Through March 25, ICE’s CDS clearing houses have cleared $16.7 trillion in gross notional value on a cumulative basis across 453,238 transactions. ICE currently lists 276 CDS contracts for clearing.
  • ICE Trust U.S. (ICE Trust) reached $10 trillion in gross notional value cleared during the week ending March 25, including $708 billion in single-name CDS, resulting in open interest of $552 billion. ICE Trust offers clearing for 42 indexes and 99 single-name contracts.
  • ICE Clear Europe has cleared euro 5.0 trillion ($6.7 trillion) of gross notional value since inception, including euro 785 billion ($1 trillion) in single-name CDS, resulting in euro 497 billion ($702 billion) of open interest. ICE Clear Europe offers clearing for 34 indexes and 101 single-name contracts.
• Trading days in March 2011:
  • ICE Futures Europe: 23
  • ICE Futures U.S.: 23
  • ICE Futures Canada: 23
  • Chicago Climate Futures Exchange: 23

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    Historical futures volume and OTC commission data can be found at:
    http://ir.theice.com/supplemental.cfm