• CME Group (CME) on Wednesday rallied to a new record high, taking out the previous high from early April.
• CME Group fell on April 23 after its slightly negative Q1 earnings report but has since been on a tear to the upside.
• CME Group’s revenues are tightly linked to market volatility and trading volumes, potentially making it an attractive stock in volatile times.

Company Description:

CME Group (CME) offers a broad range of exchange products covering major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, and metals. CME Group also operates one of the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives. Apart from CME and CBOT, the company operates New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Commodity Exchange (COMEX), CME Clearing Europe Limited (CMECE), and CME Europe Limited (CME Europe). 

CME Group has a market cap of $99.9 billion, making it bigger than the Intercontinental Exchange (owner of NYSE and other exchanges), the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Borse, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, Nasdaq, CBOE, and Euronext.

Today’s Context:

CME Group on April 23 fell by 1.54% after the release of its slightly disappointing Q1 earnings report but has since rallied for five straight sessions by a total of 5.3% to post a new record high on Wednesday. The Q1 earnings report released on April 23 was considered slightly bearish overall because of a small miss on Q1 revenue. However, the exchange benefited from record volume in Q1 tied to heavy trading activity driven mainly by Washington politics. CME Group seems likely to benefit from continued market uncertainty tied to tariffs, threats to the Federal Reserve’s independence, the possibility of a U.S. recession, and global geopolitical turmoil tied to the trade war and the resetting of global relationships.

What I’m Watching: 

CME Group closed 1.73% higher on Wednesday, posting a new record high of $278.15 and extending the five-session rally. I found today’s Chart of the Day by using Barchart’s New Highs & Lows page and selecting stocks that have new 52-week highs. I then viewed the stocks on the list with the Flipcharts feature. 

What Comes Next: 

The record high signals the possibility of further gains, although it always pays to watch for any temporary downside correction. A downside correction could be used for an entry point.

Key Technical Levels for CME Group: 

Editor’s Note: The technical indicators below are updated live during the session every 20 minutes and can therefore change each day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com website when you read this report. These technical indicators form the Barchart Opinion on a particular stock.

• The Parabolic Time/Price (50) trading system issued a “Buy” signal on April 22 and has been long since then.
• Barchart’s Overall Average Opinion is a 100% “Buy.”
• All the Barchart Opinion indicators were a “Buy” as of Wednesday, April 30.
• CME Group has been above both its 100-day and 200-day moving averages since August 2024.

Analyst Ratings on CME Group: 

• Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of a “Moderate Buy” with a rating of 3.58 out of 5, and price targets between $211 and $305.
• The average price target of $270.39 is below Wednesday’s close of $277.08, suggesting the stock is either overpriced or that analysts have yet to catch up with CME’s upside potential.

Why It Matters: 

A breakout to a major new high can suggest that a stock has underlying strength to push the stock even higher, although caution is always warranted.

Want more insights like this? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Chart of the Day!

Additional disclosure: The Barchart Chart of the Day highlights stocks that are experiencing exceptional current price appreciation. They are not intended to be buy recommendations as these stocks are extremely volatile and speculative. Should you decide to add one of these stocks to your investment portfolio it is highly suggested you follow a predetermined diversification and moving stop loss discipline that is consistent with your personal investment risk tolerance and reevaluate your stop losses at least on a weekly basis.