Intercontinental Exchange has agreed to acquire Creditex Group Inc. for $625 million. The deal for $565 million in stock and $60 million in cash is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter, and should extend ICE's reach into the market for credit derivatives.

IntercontinentalExchanged reported Thursday that trading volume in December had increased by 22 percent compared to year-over-year data. The climb was led by a much greater amount of contracts sold for oil and agricultural products.

Trading volumes at IntercontinentalExchange Inc, a major derivatives exchange of energy products, increased by 25 percent for the month of November. The largest increases came from much higher trading of energy contracts from oil and gas.

IntercontinentalExchange announced plans to acquire Chatham Energy Partners today. Chatham Energy Partners will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under ICE entitled Chatham Energy, LLC. Chatham Energy specializes in over-the-counter (OTC) transactions for energy options.

ICE reported revenues of 75 cents per share up from 52 cents a share a year earlier on future volumes.