CME Group Announces Trading Volume Record in Brent Crude Oil Futures

CHICAGO, Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced a record in daily trading volume for its Brent crude oil futures contract. These contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX.

Brent Crude Oil Last Day Financial Futures trading volumes jumped yesterday to 21,997 contracts, a 70 percent increase over the previous record of 12,893 set on June 7, 2012, and a nearly 300 percent increase over the average daily volume of 5,645 contracts in June 2012.

"We've seen strong, consistent growth in our Brent futures and options contracts so far this year," said Kendal Vroman, Senior Managing Director, Commodities and Information Products and Services at CME Group. "CME Group is the only market that offers the three global benchmarks – NYMEX WTI, NYMEX Brent and DME Omani crude – on a single platform, alongside the broadest slate of energy futures and options contracts."

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk.  CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate.  CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex^® electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago.  CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, which offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

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SOURCE CME Group