Standard & Poor’s affirmed its rating of CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures exchange, and said the outlook on the company and its debt was negative after assessing competitive risks from NYSE Euronext.
The New York-based rating company affirmed the AA/A-1+ counterparty rating for the Chicago market owner, S&P said in a statement today. NYSE Euronext’s U.S. futures exchange, Liffe U.S., has captured 3 percent of trading volume in Eurodollar contracts and represents “a credible threat to CME Group’s most important listed interest-rate contract,” S&P said. “If CME Group loses a substantial portion of its market share in interest-rate products, the impact on its financial performance could be material, but not serious.”
