The operator of the New York and Paris exchanges said that its trading in futures, options and other derivative securities picked up 1.4% from March and was 9.0% above the base level of the first quarter’s trading this year.
But the average daily volume of 8.2 million contracts in April 2012 still was down 6.9% against the volume of a year ago.
Trading in stocks also was a mixed bag.
In Europe, NYSE Euronext ran the table, with stock trading up 14.8% from March, 17.8% from the first quarter of 2012 and 22.8% against the prior year.
In the United States, stock trading was down 2.5% against March, 3.6% against first quarter 2012 and 13.3% against April 2012.
Those drops, while stops, are still improvements. Last month, NYSE Euronext said its trading in stocks in the United States was down 23.6 percent in March, compared to 2011. In Europe, stocks were down 12.7 percent. Derivatives were down 11.5 percent, worldwide.
Other indicators of activity:
• U.S. equities: Daily voljme of 1.7 billion shares in April 2012 decreased 13.3% compared to April 2011 . NYSE Euronext’s share of NYSE-listed stocks was 31.3%, down from 33.3% in April 2011, but above the 30.6% recorded in the first quarter of 2012.
• U.S. equity options: Daily volume of 3.9 million contracts in April 2012 decreased 3.3% compared to April 2011 levels, decreased 4.9% from March 2012 and decreased 5.5% from first quarter 2012 levels.
• European equities: Daily volume of 1.9 million transactions in April 2012 increased 22.8% compared to April 2011.
• European derivatives: Daily volume in April 2012 of 4.3 million contracts decreased 9.6% compared to April 2011, but increased 9.1% from March 2012. Year-to-date, daily volume of 3.5 million contracts was 23.8% below prior year levels.
• Fixed income products: Daily volume of 1.8 million contracts in April 2012 decreased 7.1% from April 2011, but were 1.0% above first quarter 2012 levels
• U.S. exchange-traded funds: Daily volume of 220 million shares was 19.4% below prior year levels.
