CME Group reported $1.7bn in quarterly revenue and record market data sales

Two hundred and thirty-eight million dollars. That is what CME Group took in from selling market data in the second quarter, a record for the line and 20 percent more than a year earlier.

Revenue reached $1.7bn and net income was $1.0bn, or $2.88 a diluted share, in results dated July 22. Net income attributable to the company edged up to $1,041.8m from $1,012.2m. The larger move was across the half: first-half net income rose to $2,196.1m from $1,956.4m, and Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Duffy said it was the strongest first half in the company's history.

Volume did the work. Average daily volume was 29.8 million contracts, the third highest the exchange has recorded, and 9.1 million of that traded outside the United States. Clearing and transaction fees brought in $1.4bn, at an average of $0.678 per contract.

The company returned cash as it went. It paid about $468m in dividends and bought back $695m of its own stock during the quarter, and closed June with $2.3bn in cash against $3.4bn of debt.