CME Group profit falls on slower trading, interest-rate drop

CME Group Inc., the world's largest futures market, said first-quarter profit fell 30 percent as demand for its largest contract, interest-rate futures, was hurt by the Federal Reserve's target rate of near zero percent.

Net income dropped to $199.1 million, or $3 a share, from $283.5 million, or $5.25, a year earlier, Chicago-based CME said in a statement today distributed by PR Newswire. Excluding certain items, the company earned $3.20 a share. On that basis, CME was estimated to earn $3.21, according to a Bloomberg survey of 15 analysts.