STATISTICS

The first US banks have begun releasing third quarter earnings. JP Morgan reports a 68 per cent increase in FX revenues to $99 million versus $59 million a year ago (see story, this issue). Meanwhile, NationsBank does not break out FX revenues, but does report a 26 per cent increase in net income to $788 million from $625 million for the same period a year ago. First Chicago also does not breakout FX trading revenues separately, but reports combined trading profits of $32 million for the period, up from a loss of $12 million a year ago. For the nine-month period, First Chicago reports trading gains of $385 million, up 18 per cent from $358 million for the same period a year ago.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reports October 9 was the busiest single-day in terms of electronic trading volume in its currencies and interest rate products on Globex, with 43,936 futures and options contracts traded. The previous single-day volume record stood at 37,452 contracts on December 6, 1996. Year-to-date, CME Globex volume is up 89 per cent compared to the year prior, with October running 196 per cent above the previous year in terms of average daily volume of 26,640 contracts. Eurodollar futures accounted for the largest proportion of the record volume, with 24,937 contracts changing hands.

The Bank of Japan reports average daily dollar/yen turnover for the week ended October 10 totalled $9.81 billion, up from the $9.22 billion reported the prior week ended October 3. Average daily dollar/mark turnover for the same period rose, to $4.13 billion from $3.49 billion. The figures for the latest week reflect only four days' trading due to a holiday on October 10.