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MarketAxess Continues to Set Records in Trading Volume

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NewYork-based leading multi-dealer trading platform MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX - Free Report) recently announced the total trading volume in Open trading, the all-to-all trading solution for global credit markets. The volume through Dec 16, 2016 has totaled $167 billion, which is 83% higher than $91.5 billion reported in Dec, 2015.

In Nov 2016, the company announced a total monthly trading volume $124 billion. In October, MarketAxess reported total monthly trading volume of $113 billion. The figures reflect that the company has witnessed an upward trend in its trading volume both sequentially and year over year.

Shares of the company have gained 37.7% year to date, outperforming the 23.6% growth for the Zacks categorized Securities Exchanges industry. Also, over the last 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year earnings increased 1.2%. Given its progress on the fundamentals, the stock is likely to keep performing well in the quarters ahead.

YTD PRICE CHART

Coming back, the Open Trading volume represents nearly 13% of the total trading volume of $1.3 trillion (year to date) executed in credit products in 2016. Alongside, the number of active Open Trading participants has increased by 50% this year. On Nov 29, 2016, Open Trading set a new record for single-day volume with trade worth $1.6 billion. On the very next day, a record of total 3,080 trades was recorded on Open Trading. Management estimates that liquidity takers saved over $100 million in transaction costs through Open Trading in 2016.

This outstanding performance has been driven by a number of positive factors. One of the most notable among these is the increased participation by Europe and an expansion of Open Trading into Asia. MarketAxess’ European trading business continues to grow. The company is gaining Eurobond market share and seeing healthy growth in trading volumes in emerging markets and U.S. credit products from European clients. In the third quarter of 2016, European client volume surged 70% and EM Local Markets trading volume increased 86%. The growing importance of the secondary market liquidity has led an increase in interest rates, in turn, improving trading volume.

Furthermore, Private Axes – a protocol that allows bond market participants to anonymously negotiate block trades to minimize information leakage – is another growth driver. It was introduced by MarketAxess to offer investment grade and high yield corporate bond, emerging market debt, agency and Eurobond trading. This has largely supported MarketAxess to continuously set records on trading volumes.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

MarketAxess presently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks from the finance sector are Alleghany Corporation , First American Financial Corporation (FAF - Free Report) and Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL - Free Report) . Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Alleghany Corporation deals in Property & Casualty reinsurance and insurance businesses in the U.S. and internationally. The company recorded positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 20.52%.

First American Financial is a leading provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries in the U.S. The company beat estimates in all the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 14.32%

Arch Capital offers property, casualty, and mortgage insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. It posted positive surprises in all of the last four quarters with an average beat of 9.27%.

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